NORTH CAROLINA, USA — Kirill Kaprizov scored three goals for his second career hat trick, and Joel Eriksson Ek had the tiebreaking goal in the third period to lead the Minnesota Wild to a 5-2 win over the Carolina Hurricanes on Sunday.
Jake Middleton also scored for the Wild in their third win in four games after losing eight of nine. Filip Gustavsson stopped 40 shots.
Martin Necas and Michael Bunting had goals for Carolina, which finished 3-2-1 on a six-game homestand. Antti Raanta finished with 14 saves.
Eriksson Ek scored at 9:32 of the third to give the Wild a 3-2 lead as he controlled the rebound of a shot by Jonas Brodin and then got two chances to beat Raanta. That came just 75 seconds after Bunting had tied it for the Hurricanes.
Kaprizov and Middleton added empty-net goals for the Wild in the final 2:01. Kaprizov got his 18th of the season to finish off his first hat trick since last Feb. 26 against Columbus.
Carolina played without forward Andrei Svechnikov (upper-body injury), who scored the game-winning goal on Friday against Detroit.
The Hurricanes outshot the Wild 18-3 in the first period, but Minnesota managed to get out of the period tied at 1-1.
Necas, with his second goal in two games, gave the Hurricanes a 1-0 lead with just under 6 minutes remaining in the opening period with a wrist shot from the left circle.
Kaprizov tied it at 1-1 with 2:17 remaining in the first with a tip-in of a shot from Alex Goligoski. Kaprizov has scored five goals in the past two games and 10 in his last 10 games.
Kaprizov put the Wild ahead at 6:18 of the second as he got the puck in the slot, spun around and wristed a shot through a screen by Erksson Ek.
Bunting tied it again at 8:17 of the third with a shot from the left circle.
Following a blowout loss in Tampa, Minnesota scored 11 goals in two games against Florida and Carolina. The Wild have now won 3 of their last 4, and there are several positive signs of what could become a longer streak.
- All-Star wing Kirill Kaprizov is heating up as scoring increases
- Goaltender Filip Gustavsson made 40 saves in his third game since returning from injury, rounding into his quiet, consistent form after a pair of uneven performances.
- The return of Jonas Brodin seems to have fortified a defense that was giving up goals by the bunches.
UP NEXT
Wild: Host Washington on Tuesday night.
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