Kaprizov has 2 goals, assist in Wild win against Coyotes

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Kirill Kaprizov had two goals and an assist for the Minnesota Wild in a 4-1 win against the Arizona Coyotes at Xcel Energy Center on Tuesday.

The forward has 10 points (seven goals, three assists) in his past five games and 49 points (25 goals, 24 points) in his past 31.

“It’s fun to watch, right?,” Wild defenseman Brock Faber said of Kaprizov. “A guy like that, the past whatever 20 or so games, I’ve never seen anything like that. It’s so awesome to see and he hasn’t changed the way he goes about his business. Whether he’s scoring or not, he makes an impact on how hard he works, [the] 200-foot game he plays. He’s really getting rewarded now.”

Ryan Hartman and Marcus Foligno also scored for Minnesota (32-27-7), which has earned a point in five straight games (4-0-1). Marc-Andre Fleury made 21 saves.

"I liked our focus level,” Wild coach John Hynes said. “I thought we had good energy. I thought we played a good style game. We were focused from the start. I thought overall, we played a pretty solid hockey game. So I really liked the mindset of the team today."

Nick Bjugstad scored for Arizona (26-35-5), which has lost two in a row and four of its past five. Karel Vejmelka made 27 saves.

“I think we played a hard-checking game, we kept them on the outside a lot, we blocked a lot of shots, we played good in front of our net,” Coyotes coach Andre Tourigny said. “I think ‘Vejy’ was solid as well. I think we did a lot of good stuff defensively."

Kaprizov gave the Wild a 1-0 lead at 6:29 of the first period with a wrist shot from the top of the left circle.

Bjugstad tied it 1-1 at 8:08 of the second period. He got a step on Wild defenseman Jonas Brodin and scored with a shot off the left post from the right circle.

"[Bjugstad] played a lot of big minutes and heavy minutes against their top line, so he played a really good game,” Tourigny said.

Hartman put Minnesota back in front 2-1 on the power play at 18:16, one-timing a backdoor pass from Kaprizov at the right post.

"It's always good to score,” Hartman said. “Obviously, you're trying to help the team win, and in that aspect you need scoring from around the lineup. It helps this team a lot, and I'm trying to continue to do that."

Vejmelka made a pad save on a Mats Zuccarello breakaway at 11:04 of the third period to keep it a one-goal game.

Kaprizov pushed it to 3-1 at 17:28 with an empty-net goal, and Foligno also scored into an empty net 27 seconds later at 17:55 for the 4-1 final.

“I think we got outworked all night, to be honest,” Coyotes forward Michael Carcone said. “We weren't breaking pucks out, weren't putting pucks behind them. They played a good game and kind of took it to us tonight."

NOTES: Coyotes forward Barrett Hayton was a late scratch with a lower-body injury. Tourigny said Hayton is back in Phoenix to be examined further and that “it's not a day-to-day injury. It will be longer than that." … Wild forward Joel Eriksson Ek left the game at 2:55 of the third period following a hit from Bjugstad. There was no update. … Kaprizov had his 25th multigoal game in the NHL, tied with Zach Parise for the second-most in Wild history behind Marian Gaborik (41).