Wild leave Carolina with win: Kaprizov hat trick, Gustavsson brilliant
Minnesota got out-shot 18-3 in the first period and Carolina had 30 shots on goal to Minnesota's seven late in the second period but it didn't matter. Somehow, the Wild held a 2-1 lead after 40 minutes.
The difference Sunday at PNC Arena in Raleigh, N.C., was Filip Gustavsson, the Minnesota goaltender stopped 40-of-42 shots in the 5-2 Wild win. The Hurricanes out-shot the Wild 42-19.
Kirill Kaprizov supplied a hat trick, giving him five goals in the last two games and 17 points (10 goals, 7 assists) in his past nine games. His first of the day came with 2:17 left in the first period, and he put Minnesota up 2-1 on a wrist shot at the 6:18 mark of the second period.
Kaprizov completed the hat trick after blocking a hard shot and then sending a puck the length of the ice into an empty net as Carolina scrambled with an extra skater and pulled goalie in an attempt to tie the game.
Carolina tied the game 2-2 when Michael Bunting beat Gustavsson at 8:17 of the third period, but Joel Eriksson Ek's team-leading 19th goal of the season came just 75 seconds later and it served as the game-winning goal.
Jake Middleton added a second empty-netter for the Wild to push the lead to three.
Minnesota was a perfect 4 for 4 on the penalty kill, their second straight such performance on special teams.
The win gets the Wild back within a game of .500 at 20-21-5 and gets them within six points of Nashville for the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference.
Up next: Wild vs. Washington Capitals, Tuesday at 7:10 p.m. CT.
Title: Bring Me The Sports co-owner, editor Email: joe@bringmethenews.com Twitter: @JoeBMTN Education: Southwest Minnesota State University Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota Expertise: All things Minnesota sports Nelson has covered Minnesota sports for two decades, starting his media career in sports radio. He worked at small market Minnesota stations in Marshall and St. Cloud before joining one of the nation's highest-rated sports stations, KFAN-FM 100.3 in the Twin Cities. There, he was the producer of the top-rated mid-morning sports show with Minnesota Vikings announcer Paul Allen. His radio experience helped blossom a career as a sports writer, joining Minneapolis-based Bring Me The News in 2011. Nelson and Adam Uren became co-owners of Bring Me The News in 2018 and have since more than tripled the site's traffic and launched Bring Me The Sports in cooperation with the Sports Illustrated/FanNation umbrella. Nelson has covered the Super Bowl and numerous training camps, NFL combines, the MLB All-Star Game and Minnesota playoff games, in addition to the day-to-day happenings on and off the field of play. Nelson also has extensive knowledge of non-sports subjects, including news and weather. He works closely with Bring Me The News meteorologist Sven Sundgaard to produce a bevy of weather and climate information for Minnesota readers. Nelson helped launch and manage the Bring Me The News Radio Network, which provided more than 50 radio stations around Minnesota with daily news, sports and weather reports from 2011-17.