Game Recap: Wild 5, Mammoth 0

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Filip Gustavsson made 25 saves for his fourth shutout of the season, and the Minnesota Wild defeated the Utah Mammoth 5-0 at Grand Casino Arena on Tuesday.

“Well, you know, they always want to block shots,” Gustavsson said of his teammates. “And you know that's what you love as a goalie. And everyone appreciates it. Guys are standing up on the bench as soon as we block shots. And I try and say it as much as I can to them when they block it, because it makes our job so much easier.”

Kirill Kaprizov had a goal and an assist, Vladimir Tarasenko had two assists, and Bobby Brink scored his first goal with the Wild (38-16-11), who are 3-0-1 in their past four.

“I thought the mindset, the intentions that we played with, and I think the style of game that we need to put on the ice against that team was solid,” Minnesota coach John Hynes said. “… Right from the drop of the puck you could tell that we were engaged and willing to do certain things that [it] was going to take to win tonight, so it was a really good, strong team performance.”

Karel Vejmelka made 25 saves for the Mammoth (34-26-5), who had a four-game point streak end (3-0-1) in the finale of a five-game road trip. They lost 3-2 in overtime at the Chicago Blackhawks on Monday.

“I think we have to take a step back, look at the trip. There’s a lot of positive there,” Utah coach Andre Tourigny said. “The boys fought hard today. [Minnesota] is a good team. We need to give them credit. They were waiting for us. They know what happened the last time we played them this year (5-2 Utah home win on Feb. 27). So, they were ready. Give them credit. And it is what it is. But excited to go back home and have a little bit of rest.”

Kaprizov put Minnesota ahead 1-0 at 14:10 of the first period after a Utah turnover in its own zone. Tarasenko picked up the puck and found Kaprizov cutting to the slot for the initial shot, which caromed off the end boards before Kaprizov beat three Mammoth players to the rebound and scored while sliding on one knee.

“I don’t know. I miss the first one and then it was just lucky,” Kaprizov said. “Good bounce for me. Almost like an empty net.”

Matt Boldy increased the lead to 2-0 at 8:43 of the second period after Marcus Johansson brought the puck down the left side and fed him in the right face-off circle for a one-timer.

Brink made it 3-0 at 2:09 of the third period, scoring with a high wrist shot from the right circle to the short side. The forward, who is from Minnetonka, Minnesota, was playing his third game since being traded from the Philadelphia Flyers on Friday.

"Pretty special,” Brink said. “The fans make it special, just their enthusiasm. I remember sitting in there and watching guys like [Zach] Parise and [Marian] Gaborik score goals, so a special day."

Danila Yurov got past Utah defenseman MacKenzie Weegar in the right circle and scored to the far side to push the lead to 4-0 at 6:09.

Ryan Hartman then made it a 5-0 final at 18:39 when he put a rebound into an open net behind Vejmelka after his initial attempt went off the right post.

“[It] seems like we’ve never had quit in our group all year,” Mammoth forward Lawson Crouse said. “Obviously it [stinks]. We gave up one late, but not for the lack of guys not trying. We’re trying to do the right things out there. Obviously tonight it didn’t happen. We’ll learn from it and move on.”

NOTES: It was the first regulation win for the Wild against the Mammoth in seven games against them in their history; Minnesota is now 2-5-0 against Utah, including a shootout win last season. The Wild had lost their first three home games against the Mammoth dating to last season. … Kaprizov extended his home goal streak to five games, the longest by a Wild player since he had a stretch of equal length in 2022-23. … Gustavsson (210 games) became the second-fastest Swedish goaltender in NHL history to 15 career shutouts, behind Henrik Lundqvist (178 games).