Filip Gustavsson secured his third shutout of the season, while Kirill Kaprizov extended his point streak to eight games with his 150th NHL career goal as the Minnesota Wild dominated the Anaheim Ducks once again, sealing a 4-0 victory on Tuesday night.
Gustavsson made 27 saves to claim his sixth career shutout, with Ryan Hartman contributing a goal and an assist, and Jon Merrill and Jacob Lucchini also finding the back of the net.
“We knew we were going to spend a lot of time in their zone, and the guys played well. We were down there most of the game,” Gustavsson remarked on his team’s strong performance.
Minnesota has been on an impressive run lately, winning four of its last five games and extending its point streak to eight games, going 6-0-2. With Vegas losing 5-3 to Tampa Bay, the Wild now trails the Golden Knights by three points for the Western Conference’s second wild-card spot.
On the other hand, Anaheim’s struggles continue as they suffered their seventh consecutive defeat and were shut out for the third time in four games, including a 2-0 loss to Minnesota on March 14.
“It’s not fun losing. We just have to get back on track soon,” lamented Ducks forward Frank Vatrano on their losing streak, which marks a first in the franchise’s 30-year history with two separate seven-game losing streaks in a single season.
In the second period, after the Wild netted two goals in the opening two minutes, Kaprizov extended their lead to 3-0 on a power play, scoring his fifth goal in as many games. He now boasts 10 goals and 14 points during his current point streak.
Kaprizov achieved the milestone of 150 goals in just 265 games, making him the fastest player in franchise history to reach this impressive mark.
Minnesota’s head coach, John Hynes, made strategic changes during the game, shuffling his left wings, which quickly paid off. Hartman scored 35 seconds into the second period, followed by Merrill’s goal at 1:56, assisted by Marat Khusnutdinov, who earned his first NHL point.
“It wasn’t a bad first period by any means, but I just didn’t think we had a ton going on,” Hynes commented on the team’s performance. “Then a couple of changes, and then we got off to a quick start in the second, and I think we were able to build the game the right way from there.”
However, the victory was marred by defenseman Jonas Brodin’s injury in the third period, forcing him to exit the game with a lower-body injury.
