S T. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – Kirill Kaprizov scored in the third round of a shootout and the Minnesota Wild beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 4 = 3 on Saturday night for their sixth straight victory.
Jordan Greenway, Mats Zuccarello and Marcus Foligno scored goals in regulation for the Division Central leading Minnesota, who outscored their opponents 28-12 during the winning streak.
Cam Talbot made 39 saves to tie Toronto’s Jack Campbell and New York Rangers’ Igor Shesterkin for the league lead with 13 wins.
Jason Spezza scored twice and Auston Matthews once for Toronto, which has lost for the first time in six games and is now 15-2-1 in its last 18 outings. Campbell had 37 saves.
The Maple Leafs were looking to set a franchise record with eight consecutive road victories. Toronto also won seven straight road games in 1940-41, 1960-61 and 2002-03.
Zuccarello and Matthews scored in the first two rounds of the penalty shootout before Kaprizov beat Campbell with a shot to the wrist. Talbot then stopped William Nylander at the other end.
Related Videos
Toronto played without Mitch Marner. Fourth on the team with 21 points and tied with Rielly Smith for the club’s 15 best assists, the right wing left practice on Friday after colliding with teammate Jake Muzzin. Marner was expected to be a decision at playing time, but Marner was replaced by Ondrej Kase, who missed the last three games with an upper body injury.
The Wild have scored at least four goals in seven of their last eight games and led 3-0 midway through the second period when Foligno scored off a rebound from Joel Eriksson Ek’s shot after the latter cornering an errant punt attempt.
Then Toronto took over to tie the game heading into third.
Moments after Talbot made his best save, flinging himself back with his left pad to steal Nylander, Spezza’s centering attempt from below the goal line near the right corner was deflected off Jordie Benn’s skate and side. of Talbot’s helmet before falling into the net at 12:47.
A more traditional goal from Spezza, a slap from the slot, made it 3-2 five minutes later, before his pass was redirected to the net by Matthews in the final minute of the period to extend his games with a goal to five. Both goals were in the power game. Toronto finished 2 of 5 with the men’s advantage.
For the sixth time in his career, Matthews has a five-goal streak in a row. Only two players in Toronto’s history have more: Babe Dye (eight) and Rick Vaive (seven).
Greenway scored on a rebound in the first and Zuccarello’s attempt to cross drifted off Justin Holl’s skid for a 2-0 Wild lead early in the second.
NOTES: Foligno’s goal was the tenth of the season. He has now recorded more than 10 goals in three consecutive seasons for the first time in his 11-year career. … Michael Hutchinson served as Toronto’s backup goalkeeper while Joseph Woll remains stiff from day to day.
UNTIL NEXT TIME
Maple Leafs: Sunday in Winnipeg.
Wild: Start a four-game road trip Tuesday in Edmonton.
___
More AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/NHL and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
© 2021 The Canadian Press
Reference-globalnews.ca