Kahkonen, Wild blank Arizona, again

In St Paul, Kaapo Kahkonen made 31 saves and the Minnesota Wild shut out the Arizona Coyotes, 3-0, on Tuesday night.

It was the second shutout in three games for the Wild over the Coyotes.

“One goalie this year cannot do all the work,” Kahkonen said. “It just doesn’t work like that. So I think we’ve (Cam Talbot) been supporting each other. And he’s been playing well, too. So I think it’s just a great situation for the team.”

Ryan Hartman scored in the opening frame for a 1-0 lead to the Wild.

“We’re excited to come to the rink every day,” Hartman said. “Every time we’re getting ready to gear up for a game, we have the mindset that we’re going to go out there and we’re going to win the hockey game. So it’s been a good feeling.”

The Coyotes were outscored, 11-1 in the three-game set.

“It’s no secret, for whatever reason we’re having a hard time getting just one (goal) past the opposing team right now,” Arizona’s Christian Fischer said. “Who [cares] if we’re scoring seven goals or one. We need to win games, and right now we’re in the dump. But no one feels bad for themselves. We need to stop this right now otherwise we’re going to get ourselves in a hole. It’s pretty simple, we need to work our way out.”

Mats Zuccarello and Jared Spurgeon were the Wild strikers in the third period.

“I think, we’d been wanting to go out there every game and try to get the first goal, try to get the second goal, just get a lead,” Kahkonen said. “It’s obviously for those guys much more fun to play with the lead. To me, it’s pretty much the same job: just try to stop the puck. But obviously, it’s nice, and it’s nice that a lot of different guys are getting goals, too.”

Adin Hill got the start for Arizona and made 23 saves in the loss.

“We’ve had seven or eight breakaways in three games, we haven’t scored,” Arizona coach Rick Tocchet said. “You get one there, maybe loosen some guys up, you can just tell, and then things snowball.

“We’re getting tested. People are testing us, adversity’s testing us. Everybody in their career has to go through adversity, and this is one that’s hitting our team right now.”