Kirill Kaprizov scored his NHL-leading 14th goal of the season and added an assist as the Minnesota Wild beat the Utah Mammoth 3-1 on Tuesday night in Salt Lake City, per the AP. Joel Eriksson Ek and Maxim Shabanov also scored, and Quinn Hughes had two assists. The Wild have won three straight and went 3-1-1 on a five-game road trip, according to the AP.
Jesper Wallstedt stopped 26 of 27 shots, the AP and ESPN both reported. Our box score has Utah's Karel Vejmelka facing 30 shots and making 27 saves. The Wild scored once in the second period and twice in the third, and Utah answered once in the third.
Minnesota's two power-play goals came on seven chances, while Utah went 0 for 4. Utah took 10 penalties for 29 minutes to the Wild's seven for 23. Wallstedt made one of his saves on the power play. The AP and ESPN recaps don't say which of the goals came on the man advantage. Our box score credits Eriksson Ek and Shabanov with one goal each, and Shabanov played 5:58 of power-play time on just 13:45 overall.
Kaprizov's season line now reads 14 goals and nine assists for 23 points in 14 games, with a plus-10 rating. He has scored in every game Minnesota has played. He played 24:36 on Tuesday, including 6:48 on the power play, and put four shots on goal. Shabanov's goal was his second of the year, to go with four assists in 10 games.
Kaprizov is also the story of the trip. Minnesota beat Seattle 5-1 on Saturday and Vancouver 4-2 on Sunday before closing in Utah. Wallstedt is 6-1 in nine starts this season.
The Wild are 9-3 and lead the Central Division, with Utah second at 8-5. The Mammoth have lost one straight, and that loss followed a 5-4 win over Tampa Bay on Saturday and a 5-3 loss at Seattle on Thursday.
Minnesota returns home Thursday to host the New York Islanders. Utah goes to Pittsburgh the same night.
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