Game Recap: Coyotes 6, Wild 0

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Connor Ingram made 38 saves, and Nick Bjugstad scored a hat trick for the Arizona Coyotes in a 6-0 win against the Minnesota Wild at Xcel Energy Center on Saturday.

It was Ingram’s NHL-leading fifth shutout of the season.

Clayton Keller had two goals and an assist, and Jason Zucker and Jack McBain each had two assists for the Coyotes (21-18-2), who have won two of their past three games.

“I think the boys had the right mindset,” Arizona coach Andre Tourigny said. “That was a really good start. After the first period, I think we played the right way. We had urgency defensively. We're stingy defensively. I think we played a solid three periods."

Filip Gustavsson allowed five goals on 18 shots, and Marc-Andre Fleury made 14 saves in relief for the Wild (17-20-5), who have lost four in a row (0-3-1), including 4-3 in overtime to the Philadelphia Flyers on Friday, and eight of nine (1-7-1).

"It's embarrassing to lose like that at home; I think everyone, every single guy in here feels the same way,” Minnesota forward Mats Zuccarello said. “It's just not good enough. Giving [up] too-easy goals. We battled hard, we create chances, but it's too easy for them to score. We're not playing near good enough."

It was Gustavsson’s first game back after missing the previous seven with a lower-body injury.

“For my part, of course the timing’s a little off, the game is way quicker than in practice, and getting that timing right is hard,” Gustavsson said. “I tried my best; I wasn’t good enough today. That’s what happens.”

Alex Kerfoot gave Arizona a 1-0 lead on a power play at 5:07 of the first period with a backdoor snap shot.

Bjugstad increased the lead to 2-0 at 11:47 after Michael Kesselring picked off Alex Goligoski’s clearing attempt and passed to Bjugstad for a one-timer in the left circle.

“It had been a while since I’d scored (Dec. 4), so that first one felt really good,” Bjugstad said. “It was a great play by Kesselring, and sometimes it just goes in for you. This was one of those nights.

“I’m grateful for my linemates (Matias Maccelli, Lawson Crouse). We had good sustained offensive-zone time, and usually if you’re getting shots, you’ll get chances to score.”

Bjugstad redirected a feed from Crouse on a power play to make it 3-0 at 17:21.

Keller gave the Coyotes a 4-0 lead at 1:51 of the second period with a shot through traffic, and Bjugstad completed the hat trick at 6:40 to make it 5-0.

Gustavsson was replaced by Fleury following the goal.

“The more shots, obviously, the better,” Bjugstad said. “You want to create volume and I’ve been in situations where I have been in some droughts, and I just tried to stay even keeled through that and know eventually it’s going to go in.

“Sometimes it seems like it’s never going to go in, but you stay positive and you have nights when it does. I’ll take it.”

Pat Maroon appeared to cut it to 5-1 on a rebound at 9:55, but Arizona successfully challenged that Maroon caused Coyotes defenseman Josh Brown to contact Ingram.

Ingram then preserved the five-goal lead at 15:16 when he stretched out and made a glove save on Kirill Kaprizov’s one-timer from point-blank range.

"The other side, they showed pride, they're a proud program, and they pushed back," Tourigny said. "’Ingy’ came up big and made key saves at key moments."

Keller scored on a breakaway just 38 seconds into the third period for the 6-0 final.

“You don’t want to chase games,” Wild coach John Hynes said. “That’s not the right recipe to win. Lately we’ve been doing that quite a bit. … Tonight in particular, if we’re talking about tonight. you’re down by three [goals] pretty early in the game, so that’s a hill you’ve got to climb out of it. But if you’re doing that regularly, that’s tough.”

NOTES: Ingram is the second-fastest Coyotes/Jets goalie to have five shutouts in a season (26 games), behind only Brian Boucher (13 games in 2003-04) … Kaprizov had five shots on goal in 20:34 of ice time in his first game back after missing seven with an upper-body injury.