By Canadian Press

Kaprizov, Wild beat Senators 4-2 for 5th straight win

Dec 18, 2022 | 2:11 PM

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Kirill Kaprizov had a goal and two assists for the Minnesota Wild, who held on to beat the Ottawa Senators 4-2 on Sunday afternoon for their fifth straight win.

Mats Zuccarello had a goal and an assist and Jared Spurgeon also scored. Sam Steel had two assists to back Filip Gustavsson in his stoppage of Ottawa’s four-game winning streak with 25 saves against his former team.

Mark Kastelic spoiled the shutout bid for Gustavsson with a goal early in the third period. With 1:40 left, Claude Giroux knocked in a rebound with the Senators to cut the lead to one. Frederick Gaudreau answered with a slap shot on the empty net to seal it with 25 seconds left.

Gustavsson, a 24-year-old native of Sweden who was traded to Minnesota on July 12 for fellow goalie Cam Talbot, started the Wild’s streak with 35 saves for his first career shutout on Dec. 10 at Vancouver.

Talbot, who backstopped Ottawa’s 6-3 victory Saturday at Detroit, flashed a reluctant smile and a gave a wave to the crowd when he was shown on the video board during a first-period timeout.

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All four wins on Ottawa’s streak were with Talbot, who became the odd man out with the Wild after they re-signed Marc-Andre Fleury to a two-year, $7 million contract.

Talbot was 81-51-20 with a 2.60 goals against average and a .913 save percentage in 82 games over two seasons for the Wild. Gustavsson went 10-13-3 with a 3.12 goals against average and a .905 save percentage in 27 games over two seasons with the Senators.

The Wild welcomed Ryan Hartman back from a 21-game absence due to a shoulder injury, but coach Dean Evason slotted him in on the right wing on the second line rather than tinker with his first line. That’s because Steel, in his first year with the team, has proven to be a valuable pivot between the veteran Zuccarello and the superstar Kaprizov. In 14 games since Steel was moved up to their line, the trio has combined for 21 goals.

Kaprizov scored his 19th goal of the season near the midpoint of the first period on Zuccarello’s cross-ice pass. Early in the second period, Kaprizov broke loose up the right wing and snapped a shot that Senators goalie Anton Forsberg turned aside for a long rebound. Steel snagged it and set up Zuccarello for the goal.

That gave Kaprizov 200 career points in his 167th game, the fastest Wild player to reach that milestone and the fourth-fastest player in the NHL since the 2000-01 season to get there behind Sidney Crosby (142), Alex Ovechkin (165) and Evgeni Malkin (166). Zuccarello also became the third player in Wild history to post multiple 10-game point streaks.

Kaprizov still had some more playmaking in store, when he burst between two Senators to thread a slick up-ice pass that Spurgeon snagged in stride before a cut inside to knock a backhander in for the 3-0 lead midway through the second period.

GAME NOTES

Forsberg made 19 saves. … Kaprizov and Zuccarello each scored on Forsberg on Oct. 27 when the Wild won 4-2 in Ottawa. … The Wild are 13-4-2 in their last 19 games against the Senators. Zuccarello has seven goals and 10 assists in 18 career games against the Senators. … Senators RW Austin Watson was fined the maximum allowable amount ($4,054) by the NHL before the game for interference on Red Wings forward Dylan Larkin during their matchup the day before.

UP NEXT

Senators: at Winnipeg on Tuesday.

Wild: at Anaheim on Wednesday.

___

AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/NHL and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

Dave Campbell, The Associated Press