Game Recap: Wild 4, Sharks 3

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Kirill Kaprizov scored his third hat trick of the season for the Minnesota Wild in a 4-3 win against the San Jose Sharks at Xcel Energy Center on Sunday.

Kaprizov gave the Wild a 4-3 lead at 16:01 of the third period, picking up a loose puck in the left circle and roofing a shot over Kaapo Kahkonen's blocker.

That goal came after Kaprizov tied it 3-3 at 2:38 of the third on a one-timer from the high slot.

“Good passes from guys,” Kaprizov said.

Frederick Gaudreau also scored, and Matt Boldy had two assists for the Wild (29-27-6), who had lost three in a row, including 3-1 at the St. Louis Blues on Saturday. Filip Gustavsson made 12 saves.

“I think you always need the guys that play the most minutes and you count on in a lot of key situations to be able to drive your team and not only produce, but I think play the game the right way that I think inspires your team and drags people into the battle,” Minnesota coach John Hynes said. “I think those guys have done a good job of that. Tonight I thought ... you’re coming into a back-to-back, you need those guys to be able to step up and drive things, and I thought Kirill and a few other guys did a really good job tonight.”

Mikael Granlund, Nico Sturm and Anthony Duclair scored for the Sharks (15-39-6) who have lost seven straight (0-6-1). Kahkonen made 28 saves.

“Well, when you don’t have it, you got to find a way to hang around. I thought that’s what we did. We hung around, we battled. I thought the third period was probably our best period of the night,” San Jose coach David Quinn said. “I thought we kind of got ourselves together, spent a little more time in the [offensive] zone, and we just battled, and it was just unfortunate, you know? They got Kaprizov and we don’t. I mean, that really was the difference in the game tonight. He scores goals that a lot of guys can’t score in this league.”

After a scoreless first period, the teams combined for four goals in a 5:20 span early in the second period.

Granlund scored a power-play goal 22 seconds into the second to give San Jose a 1-0 lead. He skated into the top of the left circle and scored short side through a screen by Duclair.

Sturm then increased the lead 2-0 at 4:56, capitalizing on a turnover along the boards and scoring blocker side from the right circle on a 2-on-1 for a short-handed goal.

“We didn’t have a lot of energy today,” Sturm said. “I think you could see that. Our forecheck wasn’t as effective as last night (in a 3-2 shootout loss at the Dallas Stars), which is normal. It’s the NHL. You play a tough back-to-back, but I thought for the most part we played extremely well today. We managed the game because we knew we weren’t at our best energywise today.

“It’s frustrating because I thought it was an extremely good road trip by our team, and the way we played the last two games, I was proud of the boys with the adversity that we faced and how we showed up.”

Gaudreau scored during the same power play to cut it to 2-1 at 5:56. He used Vinni Lettieri as a screen and beat Kahkonen five-hole from the right circle.

It was his fourth goal of the season and first since Dec. 31 (24 games).

“Yeah, for sure. It was good timing like you said,” Gaudreau said. “I think those are fun to score when it’s in a win situation, so it was tonight.”

Kaprizov then tied it 2-2 at 7:01, taking a stretch pass from Mason Shaw and scoring glove side on a breakaway.

Duclair scored 23 seconds into the third period to put the Sharks back in front 3-2. He broke up a pass from Brock Faber at the defensive blue line before scoring on a breakaway.

San Jose had a chance to tie it late after Kaprizov had given Minnesota the lead, but it couldn't convert on a power play with 2:30 remaining.

“We battled, but they have a couple of good players over there, and they won the game for them tonight,” Kahkonen said.

NOTES: Kaprizov's third goal was his 300th career point (143 goals, 157 assists). He reached the mark in 258 games, fifth fastest among active players, behind Sidney Crosby (219 games), Alex Ovechkin (237 games), Connor McDavid (240 games) and Evgeni Malkin (240 games). ... Wild forward Mats Zuccarello was a late scratch for personal reasons. ... Sharks forward William Eklund did not play with an illness.