VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Kirill Kaprizov scored his 38th and 39th goals of the season to help the Minnesota Wild beat the Vancouver Canucks 2-1 on Thursday night for their third straight victory.
Marc-Andre Fleury made 21 saves for Minnesota to improve to 15-3-2 against the Canucks. The Wild (35-21-6) have points in their last eight games and are 7-0-1 since their last regulation loss Feb. 15.
Kaprizov has eight goals and an assist across this stretch for the Wild.
“He’s consistent, right?” Wild coach Dean Evason said . “Sure, you look at his scoring, he’s consistent but he’s consistent in his work ethic, he’s consistent in his team-first mentality, and obviously he’s got a skill set that allows him to score goals.”
Kaprizov opened the scoring at 44 seconds of the first period with a backdoor tip of Mats Zuccarello’s long shot.
Brock Boeser tied it on a power play with 5:57 left in the period, beating Fleury with a wrist shot from the left side.
Kaprizov struck again at 3:40 of the second, scoring off his own rebound after Thatcher Demko denied his initial breakaway try.
“We didn’t have an answer for No. 97,” Canucks coach Rick Tocchet said of Kaprizov. “Man, he’s a hell of a player. He was a difference maker.”
Demko stopped 34 shots in his first start at Rogers Arena since suffering a groin injury on Dec. 1.
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