Blake Coleman scored two goals and Jesper Wallstedt made 23 saves as the Minnesota Wild defeated the Seattle Kraken 5-1 at Climate Pledge Arena on Saturday.
Kirill Kaprizov started the scoring for Minnesota just 26 seconds into the first period, lifting a backhand shot into the net off assists from Joel Eriksson Ek and Quinn Hughes. Seattle responded at 10:13 of the opening frame when Berkly Catton beat Wallstedt with a wrist shot following passes from Kaapo Kakko and Brandon Montour.
The Wild pulled away during the second period with three unanswered goals. Coleman broke the tie at 2:11 with a wrist shot set up by Matt Kiersted. Olli Maatta then recorded his first goal of the season at 11:33 on an assist from Ryan Hartman. Exactly 1:27 later, Eriksson Ek converted a wrist shot with helpers from Matt Boldy and Kaprizov to make it 4-1. Coleman completed the scoring with an unassisted empty-net wrist shot at 16:24 of the third period.
Wallstedt stopped 23 of 24 shots to earn the victory in net for Minnesota. Joey Daccord turned aside 31 of 35 shots in the loss for Seattle as the Wild held a 36-24 edge in total shots on goal. Neither team capitalized on the man advantage, with Minnesota finishing 0-for-2 on the power play and the Kraken going 0-for-3.
The win lifted Minnesota to a 7-3-2 record on the season and ended a two-game skid. Seattle dropped to 7-4-1 after having a two-game winning streak halted.
Both teams continue their schedules in the coming days. The Wild visit the Vancouver Canucks on Sunday, while the Kraken host the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday.
