It wasn’t the prettiest of victories but the Minnesota Wild (24-14-4) used a pair of goals in the second period to fuel a 2-1 win over the Arizona Coyotes Saturday night in St. Paul.
Mats Zuccarello’s goal with the Wild on a 5-on-3 power play in the middle period was the first goal of the game and Freddy Gaudreau’s goal 51 seconds later, just milliseconds after the power play ended, gave the Wild a 2-0 lead midway through the second period.
That proved to be enough for Minnesota, who got 27 saves from Marc-Andre Fleury, with the only goal allowed coming early in the third period when Lawson Crouse netted his 16th goal of the season for the Coyotes.
Minnesota is up to 52 points on the season, just five points out of first place in the Central Division behind the Dallas Stars (57 points) and Winnipeg Jets (57 points).
The Wild are 17-6-2 since starting the season 7-8-2.
Up next: The Wild start a four game road trip Tuesday against Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals.
