Kirill Kaprizov scored his team-leading 34th goal and Marc-Andre Fleury stopped all 30 shots he faced for his 73rd career shutout as the visiting Minnesota Wild blanked the Columbus Blue Jackets 2-0 on Thursday.
Fleury’s 73 shutouts rank 12th on the NHL’s all-time list.
The win snapped Minnesota’s five-game road losing streak and extended their overall win streak to four.
Minnesota killed off its 22nd straight penalty in the win and has not given up a power-play goal in nine straight games.
Thursday marked the return of Columbus star Johnny Gaudreau, who returned after missing two games due to a lower-body injury. Gaudreau’s consecutive games played streak ended at 349, the third-longest active iron man streak in the NHL, behind Phil Kessel (1,038) and Brent Burns (734).
But even with Gaudreau back, Columbus could do little on offense all night. The Blue Jackets were held without a shot for the first 11 minutes of the third period. Gaudreau was at the center of Columbus’ best scoring chance with five minutes left when he snapped a shot that Fleury partially gloved before a scramble ensued.
Just 75 seconds into the game, Kaprizov had a golden opportunity. Patrik Laine turned the puck over in his own zone to Mats Zuccarello, who immediately found Kaprizov for a one-time wrist shot. Joonas Korpisalo was equal to the task and made the save sliding to his left, however.
The Wild scored two minutes later when Brandon Duhaime poked in his own rebound for his sixth goal of the season and a 1-0 Minnesota lead.
Kaprizov eventually did get on the board when his wrist shot beat Korpisalo between the pads 8:48 into the first.
The Blue Jackets had a tremendous short-handed chance 15 minutes into the first period but Columbus forward Liam Foudy could not control the puck long enough to put it into a vacated net.
Columbus forward Cole Sillinger missed his sixth game of the season due to illness.
With the March 3 NHL trade deadline approaching, Vladislav Gavrikov missed his fifth straight game as trade rumors continue to swirl around the Columbus defenseman.
Before the game, the Wild took part in a three-way trade with Boston and Washington, receiving a 2023 fifth-round pick in exchange for sending the rights to KHL center Andrei Svetlakov to the Bruins.
–Field Level Media
