ANAHEIM, Calif. — Despite having to patch together a lineup Friday night with four injuries, the Wild’s new-look top line and a total team effort led the NHL’s top team to yet another solid victory.
The Kirill Kaprizov–Marco Rossi–Matt Boldy line connected for four goals and 9 points and, much to the glee of his teammates, Yakov Trenin scored his first goal of the season during a 5-1 victory — Minnesota’s fifth in a row — over the Anaheim Ducks at Honda Center.
Rossi scored two goals and had an assist. Boldy scored his first goal in seven games and had two assists. And Kaprizov scored a goal and two assists to move back into the NHL scoring lead with 42 points in 25 games. That’s a 137-point pace over 82 games for the early favorite for the Hart Trophy.
Kaprizov also passed Ryan Suter for fifth on the Wild’s all-time scoring list with 372 points in just 303 games.
“He’s a maniac,” Boldy said of Kaprizov’s pace. “He’s insane. It’s fun to watch.”
Filip Gustavsson, who leads the NHL with a 1.99 goals-against average and .931 save percentage, made 26 saves for his 13th win.
The NHL-leading, 18-4-4 Wild (40 points) improved to 11-1-3 on the road and 7-0-2 in their past nine away from Minnesota.
The Wild have won nine consecutive road games against the Ducks and established the NHL’s longest active road winning streak against a single opponent. The victory also established a franchise record for longest consecutive road win streak against a franchise, surpassing their eight-game run against the Edmonton Oilers from Feb. 21, 2013, to Jan. 31, 2017.
The Wild are 16-2 in their past 18 games against Anaheim and 12-2 in their past 14 games at Anaheim. In those 14 road games, the Wild have outscored the Ducks 48-21.
After Friday’s game, the Wild bused up to Los Angeles. Marc-Andre Fleury will start Saturday night’s game against the Kings.
Kaprizov’s passing is so good, feeds Rossi from the point for a PPG pic.twitter.com/RT7wlWChwn
— CJ Fogler 🫡 (@cjzero) December 7, 2024
Kaprizov-Rossi-Boldy stupendous
With Joel Eriksson Ek injured, coach John Hynes unveiled a Kaprizov-Rossi-Boldy top line and it was an instant hit.
“Marco’s a first-line center, there’s no doubt about it,” said Boldy, who has barely played next to Rossi in the NHL despite their success together for a brief time in Iowa.
Rossi’s first goal came on a backdoor, roof shot of Kaprizov’s perfect pass from the left point. Rossi’s second goal, which came 28 seconds after Gustavsson robbed Brett Leason on a breakaway, came off Boldy’s shot that deflected first off his hand and then Ducks goalie John Gibson put into his own net. Minnesota’s third goal was a tic-tac-toe Kaprizov-to-Rossi-to-Boldy goal.
Wild goals never get old #EastToCelebrate x @budlight pic.twitter.com/93BTO7nenN
— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) December 7, 2024
“They read off each other really well,” Ducks coach Greg Cronin said. “They got a high hockey IQ. They’re strong on the puck. Even Rossi is strong on the puck. He’s not a big kid but he wins puck battles. And Kaprizov defends pucks as well as anybody in the league while he’s moving and while he’s not moving.
“That’s a talented group. They’re confident with people on their backs, they can scan the ice and make plays, that’s an elite level of hockey. It’s up there with (Connor) McDavid and (Nathan) MacKinnon. That group, they did the damage.”
Kaprizov has points in 13 consecutive road games (10 goals, 28 points). He recorded his 38th career 3-point game. It was Boldy’s 13th career 3-point game and Rossi’s fourth career two-goal game and second 3-point game.
“With Zuccy (Mats Zuccarello) and Ekky out now, we just try and put us together,” Kaprizov said. “We play before a couple shifts sometimes in different games, but today we play whole game together. I feel like Marco fast, Bolds fast. I’m a little bit fast and just feel each other a little bit, just try and create offense and enjoy playing together.”
Excitement for Trenin
As Rossi said, the Wild aren’t just a team. It’s a “brotherhood,” and that was proved again on Trenin’s first goal in a Wild sweater in 26 games — a short-handed empty net goal. The bench went bonkers.
“It felt great,” Trenin said. “And it’s not the goal itself, but how the team responded. Everybody was so happy to give me knuckles (during the bench flyby). It’s so special.”
trenin goal!! first for the wild and the bench is celebrating!!! pic.twitter.com/egTPhMsGMk
— nikki ☽ (@kingfleury29) December 7, 2024
After the game, the dressing room erupted when Kaprizov, who won the “Hero of the Game” chain after his overtime winner over Vancouver, presented the chain to Trenin.
“It’s first goal for him. It’s always exciting,” Kaprizov said. “It’s nice it happens. It’s hard when you don’t score in how many games, 25, and then you score, it should be a big deal. There’s no pressure.”
Reese Johnson makes Wild debut
Former Blackhawks checking forward Reese Johnson made his Wild debut on a fourth line with Ben Jones and Marat Khusnutdinov. The trio had a strong game.
“I really liked that line,” Hynes said. “They were on the offensive attack a lot. When they were called upon to defend, they were there. But they played quick, fast, they were hard to play against. They won a lot of puck battles. That’s a really good, really good night by that line.”
Johnson, 26, who has played 142 NHL games, said it hasn’t been hard being patient playing in Iowa, but he also didn’t want to take the call-up for granted.
“Injuries are part of the game, and when those happen, you want guys that are ready to step in and do their job,” Johnson said.
Johnson is a hard-working forward who finishes checks. How long he’ll remain in the lineup may depend on Jakub Lauko’s status. Lauko skated with the Wild during Friday’s morning skate, and Hynes said it’s not out of the realm of possibility that he could return Saturday at Los Angeles. He hasn’t had a full practice since getting hurt Nov. 25, however, so Tuesday’s game at Utah may make more sense.
It’s impressive how Iowa players keep getting recalled and the team doesn’t miss a beat. Devin Shore played on the third line Friday.
“I give a lot of credit to Shorsey, Jonesy, Johnny and all those guys who step up and play such huge minutes in the game,” Boldy said.
team work makin’ the dream work 😎 pic.twitter.com/F5ncVVT7y3
— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) December 7, 2024
In other injury news, Jonas Brodin’s timetable continues to be up in the air as the team sees how he responds to treatment before determining if he needs surgery. He’s listed as week to week. It’s also up in the air with Eriksson Ek, who sustained a lower body injury Tuesday night against Vancouver. Hynes said he was feeling better Friday, so the hope is he won’t be out too long.
(Photo of Ryan Hartman carrying the puck: Gary A. Vasquez / Imagn Images)
