Wild dominate Coyotes with 3-goal first period
The Minnesota Wild dominated the Arizona Coyotes on Friday night, scoring three first period goals in a 4-1 victory.
The Wild's first period was fueled by Kirill Kaprizov. The rookie was billed as a scoring machine coming over from Russia, but he showed off his passing ability by feeding Mats Zuccarello for his fourth goal of the season.
After Brad Hunt rifled his first goal of the year from the blue line, Kaprizov delivered a no-look assist from behind the net on Nick Bjugstad's fourth goal of the year to put Minnesota up 3-0.
The Wild expanded their lead in the second period when Jordan Greenway scored his fourth goal of the season on a breakaway to put Minnesota up 4-0.
Clayton Keller scored his eighth goal of the season to chip into the Wild's lead, but Kevin Fiala scored his seventh goal of the season with 1:14 remaining to set up the final 5-1 score.
The Wild are now 13-7-1 on the season and will go for the series sweep against the Coyotes on Saturday night.