Kaprizov scores twice, Wild edge Canucks to extend point streak to 8

VANCOUVER -- Kirill Kaprizov scored twice, and the Minnesota Wild extended their season-long point streak to eight games with a 2-1 win against the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena on Thursday.

Marc-Andre Fleury made 21 saves for the Wild (35-21-6), who won their third straight and are 7-0-1 in their past eight games. All but one of those games have been decided by one goal.
"It's good that we're going through this," said Fleury, who has won his past three starts after losing the previous three. "I think every game will get a little tighter around the League. That's essential to make playoffs and playoff hockey, that's all it is, one-goal games a lot of times and we feel comfortable playing those."
Kaprizov has eight goals and one assist in his past seven games, and has scored five of Minnesota's past seven goals over the past three.
"Would we like to score more goals? Would we like someone else to score besides Kirill?" Wild coach Dean Evason said. "Sure, but we're still not pressing so much that we're giving up odd-man rushes and opportunities the other way. Our patience was real good tonight."

Brock Boeser scored, and Thatcher Demko made 34 saves for the Canucks (24-32-5), who have lost six of nine.
"We didn't have an answer for No. 97," Vancouver coach Rick Tocchet said of Kaprizov. "Man, he's a [heck] of a player; he was a difference maker. Guys are trying. He's a world-class guy. I think we could have played through him a little bit more. You can't [stop] him, obviously, he's shifty. But I think we could have doubled up a little bit more in the [defensive] zone."
Demko was making his second straight start after missing almost three months with a groin injury and said he felt better than during a 5-4 overtime win at the Dallas Stars in his return on Monday.
"I tried to take a couple more steps tonight, which I thought I did," Demko said. "I still have some steps to take, but I felt good. Obviously, we want to get the win and we knew it was going to be a tight, low-scoring game and it didn't go our way, but I thought we did some good things."
Kaprizov put Minnesota ahead 1-0 just 44 seconds into the game with a backdoor tap-in after he was left unchecked to Demko's right and took a pass from Mats Zuccarello at the top of the right face-off circle.
"That guy has been unbelievable for us," Fleury said.
Boeser tied it 1-1 on the power play at 14:03 with a one-timer from just inside the left dot after a cross-ice pass from Vitali Kravtsov.
It was Kravtsov's first point with Vancouver since being acquired from the New York Rangers on Saturday.
"It was a great play by him," Boeser said of Kravtsov. "I think he saw the lane, made the pass and luckily I put it in the net. We weren't great in the first. In the second period, we responded well, and really just couldn't get anything going in the third.
"There are definitely some parts of our game that are pretty sloppy and we gave them some odd-man rushes, so we definitely need to clean up that aspect of it."
Kaprizov put Minnesota ahead 2-1 at 3:40 of the second period on a breakaway, converting his own rebound after Demko stopped the first shot.
"He's a superstar in this league for a reason," said Wild forward Ryan Reaves, who had the secondary assist on the goal. "Obviously there's games where he's the only guy scoring, so he's a very elite player."

Minnesota failed to convert a 5-on-3 for 1:51 midway through the second period and didn't manage a shot in the third until a power-play chance for Kaprizov at 8:08.
Fleury improved to 15-3-2 all-time against the Canucks and hasn't lost in Vancouver in regulation since his first game there on Dec. 9, 2003.
"Our goaltenders have held us in crucial times," Evason said. "When there's an opportunity for them, they make a big save to keep us where we're at and how we're playing. If they don't, it would be easy for us to maybe get frustrated or try to open up."
NOTES: Boeser's goal ended the Wild's successful penalty kill streak at 12 games, the longest in the NHL this season, and tied for a team record, and 27 straight kills. ... Forward Marcus Johansson had two shots in 16:15 in his Minnesota debut since being acquired from the Washington Capitals on Tuesday. He played on the second line in place of Marcus Foligno, who is day to day with a lower-body injury, but could play at the Calgary Flames on Saturday. … Canucks forward J.T. Miller played 20:29 in his return after missing just one game despite being declared week to week with a lower-body injury Tuesday.