In Glendale, the Minnesota Wild posted a three-goal first period and went to defeat the Arizona Coyotes, 5-1, on Friday night.
Kaapo Kahkonen made 24 saves to get the win.
“He made some big saves again for us in key moments,” Minnesota head coach Dean Evason said. “There’s opportunities where they can create momentum, and he just finds a way to keep the puck out of the net and keep the group going.”
Clayton Keller had the only goal for the Coyotes, he scored after the4 Wild had built a 4-0 advantage.
“We had four or five guys, they just weren’t good,” Arizona head coach Rick Tocchet said. “Yeah, it’s a team game, but four or five guys were just really bad and really cost us with some egregious plays.”
The Wild are 7-1-1 in their last nine games.
“We dealt with it, and we were definitely ready for the drop of the puck here,” Evason said.
Mats Zuccarello got the barrage going in the first period when he scored at 4:27.
Brad Hunt and Nick Bjugstad pushed the lead to 3-0 before the first period ended.
“Special teams, lines one through four, all the D-men and ‘Kahko’ included, it’s fun when you’re all on the same page and play well together,” Bjugstad said.
Jordan Greenway made it 4-0 at 5:08 of the middle frame off a breakaway.
Kevin Fiala closed oout the scoring with 74 seconds left on the clock for the 5-1 final
Antti Raanta made 22 saves in the loss.
“We came out OK and then kind of just lost it,” Arizona’s Tyler Pitlick said. “We weren’t working. We weren’t executing the plays. We weren’t ourselves. I think the best thing we can do is flush it and forget about it.”
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