Kirill Kaprizov scored early in overtime as the Minnesota Wild won at home for the first time in more than a month, coming from behind three times to beat the Detroit Red Wings 4-3 on a frigid Thursday night.
Mats Zuccarello recorded his first multi-goal game of the season for the Wild, who had not won at Grand Casino Arena since Dec. 20, but had gone 6-2-2 on the road since then. Minnesota got 31 saves from Filip Gustavsson and a power play goal from Kaprizov.
Lucas Raymond had a pair of goals for Detroit, which had won seven of its last eight before Thursday. The Red Wings got 35 saves from Cam Talbot in the game.
Special teams were the first period specialty for both teams, as Detroit took the early lead on the game’s first power play, and the Wild drew even the same way. On their first power play of the game, Mats Zuccarello made one of his patented cross-ice passes to Kaprizov for a wide-angle shot that slipped past the Red Wings goalie. For Kaprizov, it was his 26th goal of the season, and snapped a frustrating five-game streak that he had gone without scoring – his longest drought of the season.
The Wild dominated the offensive zone on a second period power play, getting five shots on the Wings goalie and getting another through that clanked the crossbar. But the go-ahead goal was not to be. Instead it was Detroit taking its second lead of the game when Lucas Raymond got lost behind the Minnesota defenders and slipped a low shot past Gustavsson. It was the second goal of the game for Raymond, who will be Gustavsson’s ally with Team Sweden next month in the Winter Olympics.
Minnesota again tied it on the opening shift of the third, when Zuccarello’s easy backhand flip made its way through traffic to the back of the net. And again Detroit had an answer, when James Van Riemsdyk spun away from a defender for a tap-in at the top of the Minnesota crease. And Zuccarello responded just 36 seconds later, cleaning up a mess in front of the Detroit net with his second goal of the period.
With five key veterans missing their just-completed three-game road trip, the Wild got 40% healthier on Thursday, with the return of second-line forwards Joel Eriksson Ek and Marcus Johansson. Eriksson Ek had missed the previous six games, and Johansson the previous three, both of them with lower body injuries.
Forward Matt Boldy and defensemen Zach Bogosian and Jonas Brodin are still unavailable, with Brodin not expected to return until after the Olympic break, as it was revealed on Thursday that he had undergone surgery for a lower body injury.
The Wild will make their lone visit to Detroit this season on Easter Sunday, April 5.
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