Fiala gets three points in Wild win against Coyotes

GLENDALE, Ariz. --Kevin Fiala had a goal and two assists for the Minnesota Wild, who won their fourth straight game with a 5-2 victory against the Arizona Coyotes at Gila River Arena on Wednesday.

Kirill Kaprizov, Joel Eriksson Ek, Marcus Foligno and Dmitry Kulikov scored for the Wild (9-3-0), who are off to their best start since they began 10-2-0 in 2006-07. Kaapo Kahkonen made his second straight start and finished with 24 saves.
"Right from the first day of training camp, our work ethic has been there. Guys started jelling and it's been fun," Foligno said. "It's nice to have the wins early."
Minnesota never trailed Wednesday after having fallen behind in 10 of its first 11 games this season.
"We've played awesome all year, but this time I felt like we started great and just kept it for 60 minutes," Fiala said. "It's better to play with the lead, for sure."

Shayne Gostisbehere had a goal and an assist for the Coyotes (1-11-1), who were coming off their first win of the season. Karel Vejmelka allowed five goals on 22 shots before he was replaced by Scott Wedgewood (eight saves) at the start of the third period.
"We can be a hardworking, grind it out kind of team," Arizona forward Andrew Ladd said. "There's no secret sauce to us coming up with different systems and better systems and that stuff. [The Wild] play a fast-paced game, with groups of five that pressure you all over the ice. That creates problems for other teams. The way to combat that is to not let them get you on your heels, make good decisions, put the puck in places where they can't make clean passes. … That's part of the growth our team needs to make as we move forward."
Eriksson Ek gave Minnesota a 1-0 lead at 4:22 of the first period, shooting off the right post from the left circle after Jared Spurgeon poked him the puck from the point on a power play.
Foligno made it 2-0 at 9:00 on a deflection of Jon Merrill's shot from the point, but Ladd cut it to 2-1 at 14:10 on a breakaway following a turnover by Matt Dumba.
The Wild then scored three unanswered goals in the second period, when the Coyotes have been outscored 20-3 this season.
"When you're down 2-0 in the first every time, it's hard to have one comeback, much less a bunch of comebacks," Gostisbehere said. "I think for us, we've got to have better starts. … We played right into their hands, and they fed off turnovers in the first and second periods."

Fiala scored a highlight-reel goal to make it 3-1 at 2:45. After Spurgeon's centering pass was deflected up in the air, Fiala turned his stick so the blade was pointed toward the ice and batted the puck over Vejmelka's shoulder from a sharp angle.
"It was a little baseball," Fiala said. "I was a little lucky."
Said Minnesota coach Dean Evason, "[Fiala] can be a dynamic player. We've seen some beautiful goals from him. He can score in a lot of different ways. If he brings that energy level, if he's engaged as he was tonight, and he's moving his feet and not trying to go through people, he can score pretty goals like that."
Kulikov scored 36 seconds later to push the lead to 4-1. It was his first goal since Feb. 27, 2020 (64 games).
Kaprizov tucked the puck inside the right post from behind the net during a brief 5-on-3 power play to make it 5-1 at 18:51. He is the fastest player in Minnesota history to score 30 goals in the NHL (67 games), and one of eight active players to reach the mark in fewer than 70 games.
Gostisbehere scored at 7:04 of the third for the 5-2 final.
"We liked our business-like attitude," Evason said. "We talked to the guys this morning. It's not that we didn't expect them to not respect this hockey club, but we really liked our attitude here tonight."
NOTES: The Wild have won seven straight against the Coyotes. … Kaprizov has six goals in nine games against Arizona. … Wild forward Jordan Greenway had one shot and one block in 11:24 of ice time after missing the previous four games with a lower-body injury. … The Coyotes are 1-11-1 for the second time in five seasons; they started 1-12-1 in 2017-18 before getting their second win.