The Minnesota Wild entered Thursday on a 6-4 record in their last 10 games, and after a back-to-back split with the St. Louis Blues, a loss 3-1 on March 2nd, and a win over the San Jose Sharks, 4-3 on March 3rd.
The Arizona Coyotes entered the night 2-1 in the month of March, with their first loss at Mullett Arena in March coming at the hands of the Chicago Blackhawks, a 5-2 loss on Tuesday.
Matt Dumba and Jason Zucker were healthy scratches on the evening for trade-related reasons, and Nick Bjugstad missed due to the birth of a new child.
Bjugstad had a hat-trick in the two teams first meeting, a 6-0 victory for the Coyotes.
The first period showed promise for the Coyotes, as they had managed to lead the game in offensive zone time, and had the same amount as shots as the Wild, seven, going into the intermission.
The second period got underway with an overturned goal that was pushed in by Matthew Boldy, as he was laying prone on his stomach, and used his hand to slide the puck into the crease.
The Coyotes were assessed a tripping minor on the play, and Sean Durzi sat for 2:00.
Kirill Kaprizov scored his 30th goal of the season on the power play, as Mats Zuccarello was credited with the primary helper, his 40th of the season, and Brock Faber landed his 31st assist of the year with the secondary being in his name.
Eighteen seconds later, the Wild were called for goaltender interference when Marco Rossi collided with Karel Vejmelka.
The Wild were able to kill off that penalty, and two seconds after its end, Dakota Mermis was headed to the box for slashing.
Minnesota was able to kill that penalty off, and the Wild were 2/2 on the penalty kill.
The Coyotes surrendered another goal momentarily when Jacob Lucchini slid the puck into a wide-open net, as Vejmelka was on the opposite side.
The goal was called off after a length review, and Lucchini was offsides.
Marc Andre-Fleury made spectacular save after spectacular save in the middle period, slamming the door on Dylan Guenther‘s one-timer, making a thunderous pad save, then made another thunderous save in the final minute of the period on a shot by Michael Carcone, who dragged the puck around two Wild defenders, and wristed a puck right into Fleury’s blocker.
The Coyotes led in shots at the end of the frame, 20-19.
The third period was dormant until 1:21 had elapsed when Clayton Keller snapped home his 23rd of the year. Barrett Hayton (5) and Nick Schmaltz (22) logged assists, 1-1.
Less than seven seconds later, Carcone found himself in the zone on the halfwall to Fleury’s glove side, where he uncorked a wrister that bested Fleury, and the Coyotes grabbed the lead just 1:28 into the period, assisted by Liam O’Brien (7) and Jack McBain (12), 2-1 Coyotes.
Zach Bogosian didn’t take long to find his second of the year, as Ryan Hartman logged his 19th assist of the season and Zuccarello his 41st of the year, second of three in the game, 2-2 tie.
Joel Eriksson Ek grabbed the lead for the Wild at 7:16, with the lone assist going to Zuccarello once more, his 42nd of the year and third of the game.
The two final nails went into the coffin when Faber scored his fifth of the season, assisted by Hartman for his second of the night, 20th of the year, 4-2 Wild.
5-2 was the final score, as Connor Dewar scored his 10th of the season, assisted by Jonas Brodin (15) and Adam Beckman, his first of the year, in his first game of the season.
Fight Night – Inside The Rink
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