Vets lead the way as Wild pulls away from Coyotes

Much has been said - and deservedly so - about the impact Minnesota's younger players have made this season.
Rookie Kirill Kaprizov is in the Calder Trophy mix as the NHL's top rookie.
Kevin Fiala has come on of late and is second on the team in goals, displaying the skill he showed off late in the season last year.

Joel Eriksson Ek has had a career year offensively and continues his trajectory as one of the League's top two-way centermen.
But don't sleep on the Wild's wylie veterans. That much was proven on Wednesday afternoon as Minnesota's more experienced players dominated the Arizona Coyotes in a 5-2 win at Xcel Energy Center.
Those performances made sure the Wild avoided a third consecutive defeat, making them one of just five teams to do so this season.

"We need everyone," said Wild forward Mats Zuccarello. "We need younger guys to chip in, we need older guys to chip in. I think that defines a strong team. That's when I think we're at out best."
Zuccarello was a big part of the veteran brigade that made such an impact in the victory, scoring a pair of power-play goals, including the first goal of the game and another 4 1/2 minutes into the third period that effectively put it away.
He took gorgeous feeds from another vet, Marcus Johansson, on each goal.

"Two great plays by him," Zuccarello said. "I was fortunate enough to score some goals. First goal, [Matt Dumba] and JoJo power play and I was lucky enough to finish it off and the second one was a good play by him as well."
But those two weren't the only vets to have big afternoons.

Nick Bonino had a goal and two assists, playing on a line with Zach Parise, who had yet another strong game. Parise scored a goal and had a beautiful assist on another, and now has four points in four games since returning from the COVID-19 protocol list.
For Bonino, who scored the eventual game-winning goal, it was his first multi-point game in a Wild uniform and came thanks to a couple of good bounces. His pass off the pads landed right on Parise's stick blade for an easy goal, while his goal came after Kaprizov's pass hit a skate and landed right on his own stick on top of the crease.

"For me personally, a night like this has felt like it's been a long time coming just trying to get some of the bounces that otherwise aren't there," Bonino said. "Sometimes it works out like that. It was nice for it to. You've seen all year different guys stepping up at different times."
Just the fact the Wild has two guys like Bonino and Parise playing fourth-line minutes is a testament to the club's overall forward depth. And with the success the Wild's younger players have been having, if the vets continue to lead the way, Minnesota will be a tough out come playoff time - assuming it makes it, of course.

"It's great to have balance. It's great to have balanced scoring. It's great to have balance defensively as well," said Wild coach Dean Evason. "To be able to play anybody, we're not a hard match hockey club but we try to get our matches when we can. But if you're able to trust that each and every line's going to get the job done, not only defensively but have an opportunity to get the job done offensively, then it makes for easy decisions when we're calling lines."
That depth is a result of the return of Marcus Foligno, who was back in the lineup Wednesday for the first time in more than a month.
With Foligno back, the Wild has established groups of he, Joel Eriksson Ek and Jordan Greenway, as well as Zuccarello with Kaprizov and Victor Rask.
Fiala has been gaining chemistry with Johansson, which has forced Parise down the lineup into an unfamiliar bottom-six role.
But it's hard to argue with the results.

"There's never a doubt on Zach Parise's work ethic. You've watched him over the years in practice and obviously games," Evason said. "He competes his butt off and he's going to do that each and every night and that clearly has allowed him to have not only success as of late but throughout his entire career.
"Starting attitude-wise, just pace, getting to the net where Zach has success, gets around the net and pucks get there, you know he's going to have opportunities to produce. We've been real happy with all four lines. There wasn't a fourth line tonight or a number one line - everybody rolled and it was really nice for us to see that happen."

The victory pushed the Wild's lead over Arizona in the West Division standings to 10 points. Minnesota also has three games in hand. The two clubs play twice in Arizona next week, but Wednesday's win in St. Paul did some serious damage to the Coyotes' hopes of catching the Wild down the stretch.
It's something the Wild is certainly cognizant of, and is focused on.
"We understand that the next couple games can kind of push us away from that pile, so it's big to keep teams there and for us to keep climbing in the standings," Foligno said. "It was a good response there in the third, especially after I get a penalty early. Guys made some great plays. Overall, our team had a lot of energy and made smart plays and our zone time was great, not too many lulls and when we did have them, we got back in the offensive zone.
"We gotta keep going moving forward and we know if we do, the next couple of games can really differentiate us between the teams beneath us."
Related:
Postgame Hat Trick: Wild 5, Coyotes 2