Marcus Foligno scored the tiebreaking goal early in the third period and goaltender Cam Talbot made 39 saves as the Minnesota Wild extended their winning streak to five games with a 4-1 victory against the host Arizona Coyotes on Wednesday night in Glendale, Ariz.
Kevin Fiala, rookie Kirill Kaprizov and Nico Sturm also scored for third-place Minnesota (29-13-3, 61 points), which extended its lead over the fourth-place Coyotes (20-22-5, 45 points) in the NHL's West Division.
Christian Dvorak scored the lone goal for Arizona and Darcy Kuemper stopped 19 of 22 shots. The hosts were swept in the two-game series, also losing 5-2 to Minnesota on Monday.
Wednesday's game was the last in the regular season between the teams. The Wild won seven of the eight meetings.
Foligno's go-ahead goal came at 4:32 of the third. He took a pass from Joel Eriksson Ek and charged down the left wing, beating Kuemper from close range on a wrist shot just inside the near post.
Kaprizov scored on a wrap-around at 18:20 of the third and Sturm added an empty-netter at 19:48.
The Coyotes dominated the opening few minutes, taking 10 of the game's first 11 shots.
Arizona got the lone goal of the first period on the power play at 7:38, as Phil Kessel put the puck on net with two Coyotes out front and Dvorak was able to tip in the rebound.
The Wild tied the score at 2:58 of the second, taking advantage of a sloppy Arizona line change. Sturm carried the puck down the left wing and fired a pass across the top of the crease to Fiala, who put a backhander over a sprawling Kuemper.
The Coyotes played without forward Conor Garland, who has a team-leading 22 assists, because of a lower-body injury sustained in practice Tuesday.
--Field Level Media
Minnesota | Arizona | |
Nico Sturm 2 | Points | Christian Dvorak 1 |
Nico Sturm 1 | Goals | Christian Dvorak 1 |
Nico Sturm 1 | Assists | Phil Kessel 1 |
N/A | Power Play Goals | Christian Dvorak 1 |
N/A | Short Handed Goals | N/A |
Cam Talbot .975 | Save Percentage | Darcy Kuemper .864 |
Cam Talbot 39 | Saves | Darcy Kuemper 19 |
Team | Shots | Goals | Power Play | Penalty Kill | Penalty Mins | Face Offs Won |
Minnesota | 23 | 4 | 0-1 | 1-2 | 4 | 29 |
Arizona | 40 | 1 | 1-2 | 1-1 | 2 | 31 |