Ducks can’t keep pace with the Wild as losing streak grows
Kirill Kaprizov had two goals and an assist and the Minnesota Wild beat the Ducks 5-2 on Friday night.
Jake Middleton, Marcus Foligno and Marco Rossi also scored for Minnesota and Filip Gustavsson made 32 saves. The Wild improved to 7-1-1 away from home, the most road victories in the NHL.
Robby Fabbri and Mason McTavish scored and Lukas Dostal made 25 saves for the Ducks. Trevor Zegras was awarded a penalty shot in the second period, but he missed the net entirely when his backhander went over the crossbar.
Brock Boeser, Danton Heinen and Kiefer Sherwood score as Vancouver beats the Ducks for the sixth consecutive time.
The Ducks have been outscored 14-5 during a four-game losing streak.
Takeaways
Wild: Kaprizov moved past Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon for the NHL scoring lead with 27 points. He has six points (two goals, four assists) in his last two games and continues to look like an early contender for the Hart Trophy.
Ducks: Anaheim has struggled to win even when Dostal is at his best. When he has a rare off night like Friday, the Ducks are barely competitive. Though they outshot the Wild 34-30, they never led and generated few premium scoring chances.
Key moment: Middleton, Foligno and Kaprizov all scored in a six-minute span in the first period to give the Wild a commanding early lead. Middleton fired a wrist shot past Dostal at 7:31, Foligno scored on a 2-on-1 rush at 9:11 and Kaprizov whipped in a wrist shot from the faceoff circle on a delayed penalty with 7:28 to go.
Key stat: The Wild are averaging more than four goals per game in their last 21 road games dating to last season.
Up next: The Wild finish a three-game trip at Chicago on Sunday, and Ducks continue a six-game homestand against Columbus.
