Wild score three in third, defeat Coyotes for fourth straight victory

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Kevin Fiala had a goal and an assist for the Minnesota Wild in a 4-1 win against the Arizona Coyotes at Xcel Energy Center on Sunday.

Victor Rask, Nick Bonino and Joel Eriksson Ek scored, and Cam Talbot made 21 saves for the Wild (17-8-1), who have won four straight games and seven in a row at home.
"It wasn't a pretty game," Fiala said. "But the most important thing is that we stick together. We have a belief in the room that we are going to win. It doesn't matter what happens. We have done it a lot of times this season. It's just a great feeling. You kind of feel that we're knowing that we win."
Phil Kessel scored, and Antti Raanta made 31 saves for the Coyotes (12-12-4), who have lost three straight.
The Wild will try to sweep the three-game series here Tuesday. They won 4-0 on Friday.
"[Minnesota is] getting the big moment and they're scoring," Arizona coach Rick Tocchet said. "Big moments, we have a lot of guys struggling. We just have to make sure we don't have guys feeling like they're defeated.
"We're .500 now. There's 28 games left. We can't feel defeated. We've got to score some goals."

Kessel scored unassisted to give the Coyotes a 1-0 lead at 13:27 of the first period. He got to a loose puck in the high slot and quickly shot through Talbot's five-hole.
Rask scored on the rebound of Mats Zuccarello's backhand to tie the game 1-1 at 6:35 of the second period. Minnesota's top line of Kirill Kaprizov, Rask and Zuccarello combined for 14 shots on goal.
"They spread it out and they want to play 1-on-1 hockey and they get their [defensemen] involved a lot because they get zone time doing that," Coyotes defenseman Alex Goligoski said. "For us, against lines like that, you got to go maybe a little bit more man on man and stay tight on your guys."

Bonino scored on a breakaway off a pass from Fiala to give the Wild a 2-1 lead at 6:03 of the third period.
Fiala made it 3-1 with a power-play goal at 11:10. Eriksson Ek was awarded a goal with five seconds remaining after he was tripped with the Arizona net empty for the 4-1 final.
"We've had a few obviously since the Vegas [Golden Knights] games we've talked about how grindy those games were," Wild coach Dean Evason said. "I gotta reiterate how good the teams are in this league. It's a battle every night.
"The game tonight was hanging in the balance for a long time. It was there for either team if you caught a break or a bounce. It's good that the guys are seeing games like this and obviously having success we can reinforce a lot of things that we're doing to stay patient and positive."
NOTES: Coyotes defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson was a late scratch and is day to day with an upper-body injury. … Zuccarello extended his assist streak to three games (five assists). He has 18 points (four goals, 14 assists) in his past 14 games, tying for second in the NHL in scoring since Feb. 18. … Kaprizov had an assist on Rask's goal, extending his point streak to three games (four goals, one assist). He leads NHL rookies with 24 points (10 goals, 14 assists). … Minnesota has scored at least three goals in 18 of 26 games (16-1-1 in those games). … Arizona is 1-2-1 on its seven-game road trip.