Kaprizov stays hot, Wild defeat Ducks for 5th win in row

ANAHEIM -- Kirill Kaprizov had a goal and two assists for the Minnesota Wild in a 5-1 win against the Anaheim Ducks at Honda Center on Friday.

Kaprizov moved into the NHL lead with 42 points (17 goals, 25 assists) in 25 games.

"Team keeps winning and it's easy to play for myself and it's easy to play for the whole team," Kaprizov said. "You just keep coming to the rink and you just love to come here. Everybody's smiling and joking around and having some fun, you know. It's the same when you go in the game and jump on the ice, and you just try to do your best."

Marco Rossi had two goals and an assist, Matt Boldy had a goal and two assists, and Filip Gustavsson made 26 saves for the Wild (18-4-4), who have won a season-high five in a row.

"I really liked that line," Minnesota coach John Hynes said of Kaprizov, Boldy and Rossi. "They were hard to play against. They won a lot of puck battles."

Brock McGinn scored, and John Gibson made 28 saves for the Ducks (10-12-3), who have lost five of seven (2-4-1).

"There were [scoring] chances, but ours were sporadic, and they were getting chances with sustained pressure and that was because we were late to pucks," Ducks coach Greg Cronin said. "We just didn't win enough puck battles and when they had the opportunity to shoot pucks through, they got them through. We had a really hard time getting pucks through."

Rossi gave the Wild a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal at 4:22 of the second period. Drew Helleson was in the penalty box for tripping when Kaprizov made a long backdoor pass to Rossi and he roofed the shot.

Rossi had moved into the top-line center position in place of Joel Eriksson Ek who was injured in the third period of a 3-2 overtime win against the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday and was placed on injured reserve on Friday.

"Marco is a first-line center, there's no doubt about it," Boldy said. "So for him to step into that role is, I don't want to say it's easy, but he's used to it, he's been playing in that situation."

The Wild made it 2-0 at 8:03 when Boldy took a wrist shot from above the left circle that hit Rossi in front of the net. The puck fell under Gibson before he inadvertently knocked it across the goal line with his left leg.

Minnesota made it 3-0 at 10:51 when Kaprizov made a cross-ice pass to Rossi in the left circle and he passed the puck back to Boldy at the far post for a one-timer from in close.

"They read off each other really well," Cronin said of Kaprizov and Boldy. "They have a high hockey IQ and they're strong on the puck."

Kaprizov beat the Ducks to a loose puck in front of the crease and pushed it across the goal line to stretch the lead to 4-0 at 1:21 of the third period. Kaprizov has eight points (four goals, four assists) on a five-game point streak.

"Kaprizov defends pucks as well as anyone in the League," Cronin said. "While he's moving and while he's not moving."

McGinn prevented Gustavsson from recording his third shutout of the season and second in four games when he tipped in a point shot from Cam Fowler to cut it to 4-1 at 16:37.

Yakov Trenin scored a short-handed goal into an empty net with 1:17 left for the 5-1 final.

"Tough because I think tonight was a step back a little bit," Ducks forward Ryan Strome said. "We've got to regroup; we've got a tough road trip and it’ll be fun to get on the road."

NOTES: Rossi has a four-game point streak (three goals, three assists). ... The Wild have a nine-game point streak on the road (7-0-2), which is the longest in the NHL this season. ... Minnesota forward Reese Johnson had two blocked shots in 10:23 of his Minnesota debut. ... The Wild scored first for the NHL-leading 17th time this season. ... McGinn returned after missing the previous seven games with a lower-body injury.