Kirill Kaprizov produced a four-point performance to lead the Minnesota Wild to a 4-1 victory over the San Jose Sharks on Friday night at Grand Casino Arena.
Kaprizov began the scoring for Minnesota at 7:55 of the opening period, beating Yaroslav Askarov with a power-play snap shot after setups from Quinn Hughes and Matt Boldy. San Jose answered midway through the second period when Macklin Celebrini deflected a Dmitry Orlov shot past Jesper Wallstedt at 12:11 to tie the game 1-1.
Minnesota took the lead for good just over two minutes later on the man advantage. Maxim Shabanov converted a tip-in goal at 14:15 off passes from Kaprizov and Hughes. Hughes widened the margin to 3-1 at 6:54 of the third period with an even-strength wrist shot, and Zach Bogosian finished the scoring at 13:58 by driving home a slap shot for his first goal of the season.
Special teams shaped the outcome as the Wild went 2-for-5 on the power play while San Jose was 0-for-3. Wallstedt earned the win in net with 23 saves on 24 shots, while Askarov took the loss after stopping 25 of 29 shots.
The victory extended Minnesota's winning streak to three games and improved the club to 12-3-3 on the season. The Sharks dropped to 7-10-1 and have now lost four straight contests.
San Jose returns home to host the New York Islanders on Monday, November 9, at 10:00 PM ET. Minnesota travels next to visit the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday, November 10, at 7:00 PM ET.
