*Photo from the Beloit Daily News*
Turns out the return of the man known as Kirill the thrill can rejuvenate a hockey team. Mats Zuccarello scored twice and had an assist, Matt Boldy had a goal and an assist, and the Minnesota Wild trounced the Anaheim Ducks with a 7-3 win on Friday night at home.
Leading the way with a 3 point night was Zuccarello, finishing with two goals and an assist. In his return to the lineup, Kaprizov had a two assist night, and Ryan Hartman, along with Boldy, each had a goal and an assist. The Wild have also won 3 games in a row, improving to 22-10-2, 4th place in the Central Division.
Wild head coach Dean Evason said of Zuccarello that "It's so nice to see 'Zuccy' shoot, right? Because he doesn't. He's got such a quick release. He's such a pass-first guy. Obviously, he sees the ice really well, but when he does that it'll open things up for not only him but for Kirill and 'Hartzy' too. Real nice goal."
Kevin Fiala kicked off the scoring for the Wild, tallying his 8th goal of the season 7:25 into the game to put Minnesota up 1-0. Hartman followed that up with his 16th of the year to double the lead to 2-0. Max Comtois got the Ducks on the board with his second goal of the season, followed by Zuccarello scoring his 10th to put the Wild ahead 3-1 after one period.
After a scoreless second period, Boldy scored just 30 seconds into the 3rd period to make it 4-1. Zuccarello then scored a whopping 4 seconds later, with two lightning quick goals making it a 5-1 lead. Victor Rask then scored at the 2:05 mark to make it 6-1 Wild. Derek Grant and Trevor Zegras scored for the Ducks to cut it to 6-3, but Matt Dumba put it away at the 11:47 mark to seal the 7-3 win.
Zuccarello said postgame that "I think we were playing really good the last three games. Everyone was mad. We lost five in a row. So, you've got to get back and we got a huge win in Boston and we kind of got a huge win here against Washington as well and kept rolling. Today the puck bounces our way, we get some good goals, and it feels good when it's like that."
With Cam Talbot still on the shelf due to a lower body injury, Kaapo Kahkonen made another start in goal for the Wild. Kahkonen put in a good start, turning aside 39 of the 42 shots the Ducks sent his way, good for a .929 save percentage in the win. Kahkonen's record bumps up to 7-2-1 in 10 starts this season.
Across the ice from Kahkonen was Anthony Stolarz, who got another start for the Ducks. It did not go well. Stolarz got tagged with the loss, allowing 6 goals on 29 shots, good for a meager .793 save percentage. Lukas Dostal came in and saved 12 of 13 shots in relief. Stolarz's record drops to a 6-5-1 mark.
Ducks head coach Dallas Eakins said of the disappointing game that "It's really hard to come back on these teams. I don't think they're ever completely out of a game anymore, but you certainly don't want to play from behind. We can't give up seven goals and expect to win. We need to be more focused."
The Ducks get back in action on Saturday night against the Chicago Blackhawks, with Dostal the probable candidate to get the start in net. The Wild don't play again until Monday against the Colorado Avalanche, with Kahkonen to start again if Talbot isn't healthy by then.
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