Kirill Kaprizov scored his NHL-leading 14th goal and added an assist, and the Minnesota Wild beat the Utah Mammoth 3-1 on Tuesday night in Salt Lake City.
Kaprizov scored for the third straight game, and Joel Eriksson Ek and Maxim Shabanov also tallied for the Central Division leaders, who won their third straight game to finish a 3-1-1 road trip. Quinn Hughes had two assists, and Jesper Wallstedt made 26 saves.
Logan Cooley scored for the Mammoth, who have lost three of their last five games. Karel Vejmelka made 27 saves.
The teams combined for 52 penalty minutes. Minnesota went 2-for-7 on the power play, while Utah was 0-for-4.
The first period featured two fights but no scoring.
In the second period, officials called nine minor penalties – six against the Mammoth – and another fight broke out.
The Wild finally converted on the power play to take a 1-0 lead at 15:04 of the second. Hughes took a return pass from Kaprizov behind the goal line and fed Eriksson Ek, who scored on a one-timer from the top of the left circle.
Minnesota outshot Utah 23-9 over the first two periods, but Vejmelka made several strong saves.
Kaprizov extended the lead to 2-0 with a power-play goal 48 seconds into the third period. After a Mammoth defender fell, Kaprizov collected a loose puck behind the net and passed in front to Matt Boldy. Kaprizov took a return pass at the right faceoff dot and fired into an open net before Vejmelka could get across.
Shabanov made it 3-0 at 11:44, scoring for the second straight game. He collected a loose puck in the slot and beat Vejmelka with a wrist shot to the far side.
Moments later, Wallstedt denied Cooley to preserve the three-goal lead.
Cooley spoiled the shutout bid at 18:39, poking in a rebound at the right post during 6-on-5 play
–Field Level Media
