Wild hold off Hurricanes to extend home point streak to 12 games

ST. PAUL, Minn. --Kevin Fiala had a goal and an assist, and the Minnesota Wild held off the Carolina Hurricanes for a 3-2 win at Xcel Energy Center on Saturday.

Frederick Gaudreau also had a goal and an assist, and Kirill Kaprizov scored his 20th goal of the season for Minnesota (29-11-3), which extended its home point streak to 12 games (11-0-1).
"We knew it's gonna be an exciting game," Fiala said. "They're a good team, but so are we…[we expect] to win every night. Doesn't really matter who we play, and tonight was just a good challenge for us. We were just there.
"If they're contenders, so are we. That's what we feel like."

Cam Talbot made 37 saves, including 31 in the final two periods, for his fourth straight win.
"Everything was quick, quick, quick," Wild coach Dean Evason said. "It was a fun game to be part of. Got a little intense or felt like it was kind of slipping away on us at the end, but we caught it and certainly, our goaltender caught it before all of us did, not only at the end but the start as well. [Talbot] was great, kept us in a spot where we could get the job done at the end."
Andrei Svechnikov scored twice, Tony DeAngelo had two assists, and Frederik Andersen made 24 saves for Carolina (32-11-3), which has lost three of its past four.
"The easy thing to do is say we lost three of four and that's bad, but that's not how I'm looking at it…Obviously, the outcomes are not acceptable but there's a lot of good that went on," Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour said.
"At the end of the day, you gotta win the games, got to find a way. When you play a pretty good game and create enough to win, those are tough."
Fiala made it 1-0 at 10:14 of the second period, sending a wrist shot top-shelf from the left circle. The forward has scored 10 goals in his past 14 games.
Kaprizov extended the lead to 2-0 at 1:16 of the third period. Mats Zuccarello picked up a loose puck just above the Hurricanes' blue line before passing to the forward who split the defense and scored on his own rebound.

Gaudreau increased the lead to 3-0 at 2:34 with a snap shot from the left circle. The forward has three goals in his past five games after scoring two in his first 32.
"There's nothing like putting a puck in the net. That's the best feeling since we were kids, so it's fun to do that," Gaudreau said. "But my belief is always the same, just to bring the little details and to make sure I don't cheat the game and play a solid game. Of course, when you're not rewarded, like you were at the beginning of the season, then it can be tough. But I just keep believing that if you do the good things, it's going to come your way and it's fun when it happens."
Svechnikov cut Minnesota's lead to 3-1 at 5:02 before making it a one-goal game at 6:23 with a one-timer from the right circle on the power play.
"[Minnesota is] a real physical team, good team…I thought we handed them a couple there to kind of push the game [from] 3-0 and we [almost] come back," DeAngelo said. "But, besides that, I thought we played a pretty good game, 37 almost 40 shots there or whatever, so if we keep playing like that, we just gotta do it for 60 minutes. I'm not too worried."
NOTES: Hurricanes forward Jesperi Kotkaniemi had 10:53 of ice time after missing three games in NHL COVID-19 protocol. … Wild defenseman Matt Dumba had one shot, three hits, and two blocked shots in 22:30 of ice time after missing two games with an upper-body injury. … Kaprizov is the first Wild player to begin his career with consecutive 20-goal seasons. … Fiala has 18 points (10 goals, eight assists) In his past 14 games. … Zuccarello has 21 points (six goals, 15 assists) in his past 14 games. … Andersen has lost twice in his past nine starts and is 14-2-1 since Dec. 1.