Final Buzzer: Wild Ride

• Kraken open the scoring on hustle-behind-net play by Joonas Donskoi. He intercepted a clearing attempt by Wild goalie Marc-Andre Fleury and centered net-front to Daniel Sprong, who directed the puck into an unattended goal. Sprong now has five goals in 13 games with Seattle.
• Minnesota scores five goals in rough second period for the Kraken and goaltender Philipp Grubauer. In the process, second-year forward Kirill Kaprizov became first Wild player to reach 100 points in a season.
• Bright spot: Matty Beniers scores his third goal of his debut month on the power play to extend his point streak to five games at the start of his career with the Kraken.

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- For the second straight night against a playoff-bound team, the Kraken drove early play to a multiple-goal lead in the first 10 minutes of the game. Daniel Sprong scored his fifth goal in 13 games with Seattle and Yanni Gourde worked a pretty sequence with linemate Karson Kuhlman to up the lead to 2-0 in the opening 10 minutes. The Kraken wheeled into the first intermission leading 2-1 with an inarguably promising start.
But this game took more than one wrong turn with a five-goal Minnesota outburst in the middle 20 minutes. Including the first-period score, the Wild scored the half-dozen goals in less than 19 minutes of play. The Wild went into second intermission up 6-2.
"They're going to get some life, they're a good team, they found a lot of life in the second period," coach Dave Hakstol said after the game. "But we fed that. We don't need that, we can't do it.
"Played really good hockey last stretch here [coming into St. Paul with a three-game winning streak). Second period they were a team playing for a playoff position and exceeding and they played for real and we played 20 minutes of shinny hockey."
Hakstol cited turnovers as the main cause of the defensive breakdown, as did Kuhlman. Rookie Matty Beniers also talked about not sticking with "playing simple."
"There was a stretch there in the second period where we got away from our game," Kuhlman said. "That's on us... we know where that 10 minutes was."
Beniers said, "we kinda gave it to them and when you play a team like that they're going to bury it and make you pay for it."

Beniers Bright Spot

Five minutes into the third period, the future looked a little sunnier even with the game out of reach. On a power play, Vince Dunn and Beniers worked a passing exchange that looked more polished than teammates who have practiced together less than a handful of times. Then, Dunn ripped a shot on goal. Marc-Andre Fleury made the save but couldn't control the rebound.
Beniers, positioned at the top of the right faceoff circle, seized the caroming puck and expertly aimed for a small opening between Fleury's right leg pad and the far post. It marked Beniers' third NHL goal and extended his point streak to five games to start his career with the Kraken.
[Dunn] is a smart player," Beniers said about a teammate now with a team-leading 29 assists. "He makes plays and some have ended up bouncing to me and I have been in the right spot. There's kind of a bit of luck there."

Second Period Scorecard: Read It if You Must...

The Wild stats in the second period were gaudy and no fun for Seattle fans. Tracking from center Joel Eriksson Ek's power-play goal at the 16-minute mark to the Wild's sixth goal at 14:29 of the second period, Minnesota scored a half-dozen goals in less than 19 minutes of play. Eriksson Ek scored again to tie the game, then Kirill Kaprizov scored his 45th goal of the year on the power play to put the Wild ahead for the night.
Kaprizov's linemates both scored next. Ryan Hartman got his 33rd of the year and Mats Zuccarello notched his 24th for the Wild's third power-play score of the game. Fourth-liner Nicolas Deslauriers finished out a period to forget for Kraken faithful with an assist by Kevin Fiala, a left wing who now has 50 assists on the year to go with 32 goals. Kaprizov, btw, added three assists to reach 100 points and become the first player in Wild history to reach 100 points.
Fiala assisted on four of the second-period goals and the first-period score to make it five on the evening, setting a franchise-record for most assists in one game. For context, Seattle is not the only to team to feel the heat of Fiala playing for a new contract (long story but Minnesota is going to have a hard time fitting his demands under the salary cap for next season).
Fiala extended his point streak to nine straight games. He has nine goals and added 12 assists for 21 points during the streak. He was named the league's second star for the week of April 12-17 and is likely a repeat star, maybe first this time?

Anatomy of a Hustle Play

Joonas Donskoi didn't get the goal - that came off the stick of Sprong - but the scrappy veteran forward nonetheless willed the score. All season long, Donskoi has been hunting pucks deep into the opponent's defensive zone, forechecking with speed and a purpose. It doesn't always end in intercepting the puck, like he did Friday when Fleury misplayed clearing the puck from behind his net.
There are times when Donskoi's forechecks hurry a defender, other instances where he disrupts a set breakout play. It's a small detail of his game - more noticeable is his similar doggedness on penalty kills - but he does generate his share of scoring chances (usually for teammates).
In this case, Donskoi stole the puck and fed it fluidly net-front to Sprong for an easy score (once Donskoi did the dirty work). But credit Sprong for crashing the net. Right place, right time is always welcome on the ice.

Going with Gourde

Talking to KJR-950 Kraken radio partners Everett Fitzhugh and Dave Tomlinson before the game, they were commending the work of the Gourde line during the recent victorious homestand. Tomlinson, in particular, has been telling listeners all season that being a linemate with Gourde requires all-out effort, speed and high hockey IQ just to keep up with the two-time Stanley Cup winner and now Kraken alternate captain.
On Gourde's first-period goal, his 18th of the season, linemate Kuhlman once again stayed with the high-motor center, making a skillful pass for Gourde to finish off the play and double the Kraken early lead.