The Wild are on their best run of the season.
They picked up a fifth straight win on Sunday afternoon, upending the Senators 4-2 in front of 18,213 at Xcel Energy Center for their seventh consecutive victory at home after sweeping this four-game homestand.
Kirill Kaprizov had another three-point effort, reaching 200 career points in speedy fashion, while Mats Zuccarello had a goal and assist and their linemate Sam Steel assisted on two goals.
Filip Gustavsson extended his win streak to six games after stopping 25 shots from his former team; the Wild acquired the backup goaltender from Ottawa in an offseason trade that sent Cam Talbot to the Senators.
Kaprizov opened the scoring with his team-leading 19th goal, a one-timer 8 minutes, 19 seconds into the first period set up by Zuccarello and Steel.
This play pushed Kaprizov's point streak at home to 12 games, the second-longest run in Wild history; Marian Gaborik's 14-game tear in 2007-08 is the record. Meanwhile, Zuccarello tied his career-best point streak at 10 games. He's only the third Wild player ever with multiple 10-game point streaks, joining Kevin Fiala (2021-22) and Mikael Granlund (2016-17).
He's the first Wild player to register his first 200 career points with the franchise in fewer than 200 games, and only three active NHLers have hit 200 career points in fewer games than Kaprizov's 167: Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby (142), Washington's Alex Ovechkin (165) and Evgeni Malkin (166).
Kaprizov also factored into the Wild's next goal, sending a slick pass through the legs of a Senators defenseman to captain Jared Spurgeon for an impressive backhanded goal at 9:27 of the second period.
Ottawa's Mark Kastelic ruined Gustavsson's shutout bid 4:58 into the third on a deflection before Claude Giroux wired in a puck with 1:40 to go. Frederick Gaudreau capitalized into an empty net at 19:34.
The Wild went 0-for-3 on the power play and so did the Senators; Anton Forsberg finished with 19 saves for Ottawa.
---------
