Maple Leafs hold off Wild, extend point streak to seven

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- The Toronto Maple Leafs extended their point streak to seven games with a 4-3 win against the Minnesota Wild at Xcel Energy Center on Friday.

Mitchell Marner extended his point streak to 15 games with a goal for Toronto (12-5-5), which has won two in a row and is 5-0-2 in the streak. Matt Murray made 25 saves.
"We have a good enough team and we're deep enough that every game is winnable," Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said. "Don't make excuses. Don't feel sorry for yourself. Just go out and compete and test your game if you need to. The confidence we're getting from our goaltending really is fueling a lot of things for our team. We just feel like we can win no matter what. So, all of those pieces have come together here. We've just got to stay with it."
Kirill Kaprizov and Mats Zuccarello each had a goal and an assist, and Alex Goligoski had two assists for Minnesota (9-9-2), which won its previous two games. Marc-Andre Fleury made 24 saves.
Fleury played for the first time since Nov. 15 after missing three games with an upper-body injury.
"I thought we played good," Fleury said. "That second goal is on me. It's definitely a stupid goal. I think I stepped out. But other than that, I thought we played good. The penalty kill was pretty good (3-for-3), and the battle back at the end. [We] just missed that fourth one."

Marner made it 1-0 with a snap shot through traffic from above the right face-off circle at 3:42 of the first period.
"I think we're just playing the way we want to," Marner said. "Trying to be above people, trying to make it hard to get through the neutral zone. We're not scoring the prettiest of ways right now, but we're getting guys around that net. We're getting second opportunities, and when the plays are there, we're making them."
Kaprizov tied it 1-1 with a power-play goal at 12:01 after the puck was kicked to him by Joel Eriksson Ek down low.
Zach Aston-Reese put Toronto ahead 42 seconds later at 12:43 after Pierre Engvall intercepted a Kaprizov clearing attempt. Aston-Reese scored five-hole on Fleury, with the puck bouncing off the goalie's left ankle and into the net to make it 2-1.
Matt Boldy tied it 2-2 at 2:38 of the second period on a 2-on-1 with Goligoski, but Calle Jarnkrok gave the Maple Leafs a 3-2 lead at 10:04 on a rebound.

William Nylander increased the lead 4-2 at 13:23 of the third period with a shot through traffic. The goal ties him with Borje Salming for the second-most goals by a Sweden-born player in Maple Leafs history with 148 (Mats Sundin, 420). Salming died at 71 on Thursday.
"Obviously, very special," Nylander said. "Obviously tough, an emotional day yesterday. It was nice to get the win for him and get that goal for him."
Zuccarello scored at 16:26 after Fleury was pulled for the extra attacker for the 4-3 final.
"We had the looks," Wild coach Dean Evason said. "Everything was executed correctly from whenever we pulled [Fleury], four [minutes] and a bit, we definitely gave ourselves a chance at the end."

NOTES: Marner's 15-game point streak (20 points; four goals, 16 assists) is the third longest in Maple Leafs history. Eddie Olczyk (1989-90) and Darryl Sittler (1977-78) share the Toronto record of 18 games. Dave Andreychuk (1993-94), John Anderson (1983-84) and Babe Dye (1921-22) each had a 16-game streak. Marner has factored in on Toronto's first goal in each of its past five games (one goal, four assists). ... Kaprizov extended his point streak to eight games (11 points; four goals, seven assists), matching a career high that he set and tied last season. … Wild defenseman Jonas Brodin missed his second straight game with an illness. … Minnesota forward Marco Rossi was a healthy scratch for the third game in a row. … Ryan Reaves was minus-1 with four hits and 12 shots in 12:03 in his debut with Minnesota. The forward was acquired in a trade with the New York Rangers on Wednesday.