In St Paul, the New York Ranges scored three times in the first period for a 3-0 lead over the Wild and cruised to a 7-3 win on Thursday night.
“That’s what we see with our lineup,” New York coach Gerard Gallant said. “There’s a lot of skill and talent there, and as long as we work hard, we’ll get scoring from all over the place.
Chris Kreider scored the first and last goals of the game for the Rangers.
Kaapo Kakko scored an unassisted goal midway through the third period off an individual effort reminiscent of his efforts prior to joining the NHL. He circled the from behind the Wild net and drove through the mid slot before charging the net for the goal.
Kreider’s first goal was off the power play.
Igor Shesterkin made 33 saves in the Rangers win.
Artemi Panarin, Adam Fox, and Vincent Trocheck added single markers for New York.
Kreider, Fox, and Panarin scored in the first period for the 3-0 advantage.
“We just try to play hard and 100 percent every game, and how things go, things go,” Panarin said.
The Wild got on the board with a goal from Mats Zuccarello off the power play in the second period.
“Our defensive game. Period. Checking, missing checks, everything. Our complete defensive game was awful,” Minnesota coach Dean Evason said. “Our offensive game was real good. Their goalie was great early. It could’ve been the difference, but we definitely have to do a better job defending.”
The Rangers replied when Filip Chytil crashed the net for a 4-1 lead.
Trocheck scored in the third for a 5-1 cushion.
“I feel good,” Gallant said. “The guys played a real good game again tonight. They played hard, and it’s really nice to see the scoring getting spread out around our group. ‘Kap’s’ was quite a big goal tonight. Chytil scored a big goal tonight going to the net. So you like to see stuff like that from our team.”
Minnesota got two goals from Matt Boldy in the final period but it was not enough to stem the Rangers offense.
“I’d give [the two goals] back in a heartbeat,” Boldy said. “We just got blown out of the rink. It’s nothing you look on too much.”
Marc-Andre Fleury made 28 saves in the Minnesota loss.
“It’s a slap in the face,” Fleury said. “We just need to come back here and get ready for our next one (against the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday).”
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