ST. PAUL, Minn. — Kirill Kaprizov had a goal and two assists for the Minnesota Wild in a 4-3 win against the Arizona Coyotes at Xcel Energy Center on Sunday.
Kaprizov extended his point streak to an NHL career-high nine games (five goals, nine assists) and has an assist in eight straight games, tying Jim Dowd (2001-02) for the longest in Minnesota history.
“To be honest, I don’t really want to think about that or criticize or talk about my game when it’s going well,” Kaprizov said through a Russian interpreter. “I just kind of play and let the media tell me yourselves if I’m doing better or not. I focus on my game and just doing the best I can.”
Video: ARI@MIN: Kaprizov starts the scoring in the 1st
Sam Steele, Jared Spurgeon and Matt Boldy scored, and Joel Eriksson Ek had two assists for Minnesota (10-9-2), which has won three of its past four games. Marc-Andre Fleury made 20 saves.
“We have to respect [Arizona], but we wanted to respect who we were, too,” Wild coach Dean Evason said. “We thought for the most part we did that. There were a couple of minutes there that we let down, but that team worked their butts off and they kept coming. They’re a gritty group, and they got a couple of real good looks and were able to score at the end. We were for the most part real happy with our game.”
Connor Ingram made 24 saves for Arizona (7-10-3), which has lost six of its past seven (1-4-2).
“I think the game was fair,” Coyotes coach Andre Tourigny said. “I think we didn’t play better than them. We came up short by one goal. Really proud of our effort. The second effort, resilience thing. We came back, showed some character. Really happy about that.”
Kaprizov made it 1-0 at 8:08 of the first period with a wrist shot from the slot.
Video: ARI@MIN: Steel gets the rebound and scores
Steel increased the lead 2-0 at 4:01 of the second period during a 4-on-4, jamming in the puck near the right post after Kaprizov’s backhand pass deflected off the stick of a Coyotes defenseman. Shayne Gostisbehere.
“Sometimes a pass is better than a goal,” Kaprizov said.
Nick Schmaltz cut it to 2-1 at 18:36 with a wrist shot through traffic from the high slot. Schmaltz extended his goal streak to three games and has four points (three goals, one assist) in four games since returning from an upper-body injury he sustained in the season opener on Oct. 13.
Video: ARI@MIN: Schmaltz fires a wrister and scores
Spurgeon scored 36 seconds into the third period to make it 3-1, and Boldy extended the lead to 4-1 at 6:33 with a one-timer from the right circle off a seam pass from Kaprizov on the power play.
“There’s no pass that guy isn’t making through the seams,” Boldy said. “You kind of see it unfold with how smart he is. Just walking down he knows I’m there. I’ve got to be ready for it for sure.”
Lawson Crouse cut it to 4-2 at 16:42 with a shot from the high slot through traffic.
JJ Moser then got the Coyotes to within 4-3 at 18:12, beating Fleury from the left glove side with Ingram pulled for the extra skater.
“We were just playing with urgency. We knew we had to make a push late,” Crouse said. “We gave it all we had and came up one short. Obviously, a good fight back from the group, but we came up one short, so it doesn’t really mean much.”
NOTES: Clayton Keller had an assist and has 21 points (seven goals, 14 assists) in 20 games this season. It is the most by a Coyotes player through 20 games in a season since 2003-04, when Ladislav Nagy also had 21 points (10 goals, 11 assists). … Zane McIntyrewho was recalled from Iowa of the American Hockey League on Saturday, backed up Fleury. Filip Gustavsson sustained an upper-body injury in practice on Saturday but is expected to return to practice on Tuesday. … Wild defenseman Jonas Brodin had one assist, one shot, and three blocked shots in 17:57 of ice time after missing the previous two games with an illness. … Eriksson Ek has seven points (two goals, five assists) in his past five games.
.