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| 5:00 PM PT6:00 PM MT7:00 PM CT8:00 PM ET1:00 GMT9:00 6:00 PM MST8:00 PM EST5:00 UAE (+1)20:00 ETNaN:� BRT, January 14, 2023 Xcel Energy Center, St. Paul, Minnesota Attendance: 19,299 |
Wild hope Kirill Kaprizov's hot streak continues vs. Coyotes
Arizona Coyotes at Minnesota Wild
- The Wild look to continue their recent mastery of the Coyotes as the Central Division rivals face off for the second time this season. Minnesota improved to 13-2-0 in the last 15 meetings with a 4-3 victory November 27 when Kirill Kaprizov had a goal and two assists.
- Clayton Keller has a goal and two assists in his last two visits to Minnesota after failing to register a point in the previous seven games there. Keller has just one goal in his last 14 road games after tallying six in his first 12 of the season.
- Arizona has had four regulation losing streaks of five or more games since the start of last season. Its current seven-game skid is the longest since a nine-game run without points from October 18-November 5, 2021, as part of a season-opening 11-game (0-10-1) losing streak.
- Kirill Kaprizov will try to become the 10th player in Wild franchise history to reach 100 goals after scoring his fifth in as many games in Thursday night's win over the New York Islanders, giving him 99 in his career. Kaprizov carries a 10-game point streak versus the Coyotes into this contest, totaling eight goals and eight assists in that run.
- The Wild are 1-for-11 (9.1 percent) with the man advantage in their last four home games after netting one power-play goal in each of their previous eight games at the Xcel Energy Center. Minnesota is 19-for-64 (29.7 percent) on the power play at home, ranking third in the NHL.
- Kirill Kaprizov has gone back-to-back home games without a point just twice in his career, most recently against the New York Islanders and San Jose on November 7 and 16, 2021. His 127 points at home over 89 games since the start of the 2020-21 season rank third behind Edmonton Oilers teammates Connor McDavid (161) and Leon Draisaitl (134).
Kirill Kaprizov aims to continue his goal-scoring ways on Saturday night when the Minnesota Wild host the reeling Arizona Coyotes in St. Paul, Minn.
Kaprizov capped Minnesota's three-goal uprising in the third period by scoring into an empty net to seal its 3-1 win over the New York Islanders on Thursday. The 25-year-old Russian's fifth goal in as many games boosted his team-leading totals in goals (25) and points (51) on the season, and also helped snap the Wild's three-game winless skid (0-1-2).
"We challenged them. They challenged themselves," Minnesota coach Dean Evason said. "Like we said this morning, two (were) in overtime and one was a shootout, but they're still losses. (It's) still three losses in a row. So, yeah, there was some urgency in our game."
There has been urgency in Kaprizov's game from the start of his NHL career. The 2020-21 Calder Memorial Trophy recipient has 99 goals and 210 points in just 177 career games with the Wild.
Kaprizov also briefly held the team lead in assists on the season with 26 after setting up Sam Steel's eventual game-winning goal. Mats Zuccarello, however, pulled even with Kaprizov after setting up the latter's empty-net goal.
Kaprizov has tormented the Coyotes in his brief NHL career, recording 18 points (eight goals, 10 assists) in 12 games. He collected a goal and two assists in Minnesota's 4-3 win over Arizona on Nov. 27.
Steel, who also scored in that contest, has 13 points (two goals, 11 assists) in his last 13 games. He is one point shy of matching his career high of 22, set in 2019-20.
Filip Gustavsson made 19 saves to improve to 9-2-0 with a 1.64 goals-against average, .939 save percentage and one shutout in his last 11 starts.
While Minnesota is bidding to build a winning streak, Arizona is aiming to snap a season-high seven-game losing skid after dropping a 5-3 decision to the Ottawa Senators on Thursday. The Coyotes have been outscored 31-14 during their recent run.
"We're going through a tough stretch right now, and we've got to crack it," Lawson Crouse said. "It's frustrating going through this right now, no one's happy about it."
Crouse was happy when he scored his team-leading 15th goal of the season on Thursday. He also tallied in the previous encounter versus the Wild.
Dylan Guenther collected a goal and an assist against Ottawa. The goal was the 19-year-old's first in three games since returning to the NHL after helping his native Canada capture the gold medal in the 2023 IIHF World Junior Championship.
"I'm just trying to use that momentum from the World Juniors, play with a little more confidence," Guenther said. "You go there, you touch the puck more, play in more situations, and I'm coming back and trying to play like that here."
Barrett Hayton has scored a goal in each of his last three games for the Coyotes. He has nine points (four goals, five assists) in his last eight games.
--Field Level Media
Updated January 13, 2023
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