While the Minnesota Wild are playing well at the moment, they’ve been dominant against the Anaheim Ducks of late.

Winners in four of the last five, the Wild also look for a 12th straight victory over the struggling Ducks on Saturday in Saint Paul, Minn.

It’s been a rather streaking season for Minnesota, which currently finds itself amid a 4-1-1 stretch after going 0-2-1. The Wild improved to 4-2-0 on a seven-game home stretch with their second straight victory, 5-3 over Edmonton on Thursday.

The Wild have yet to win more than two consecutive games this season.

“I don’t talk about it a lot – winning. But, we need to win some games now,” Minnesota coach Dean Evason said. “We need to put some games together.

“We just can’t play a good game and then fall off and make some mistakes…We have to continue to do what we’re doing.”

Evason doesn’t need star Kirill Kaprizov to stop what he’s done while recording six goals with 11 assists during a 10-game point streak. That run began with his two-goal effort in the Wild’s 4-1 victory at Anaheim on Nov. 9.

Kaprizov has three goals and 10 assists in 12 career games against the Ducks, who have been outscored 41-21 during an 0-8-3 slide versus Minnesota since a 1-0 home victory on Jan. 18, 2021.

Overall, it continues to be a grind for the Ducks, who have just six wins in 24 games this season, and two with five points spanning the last 12. Following Thursday’s 5-0 drubbing at Dallas, Anaheim has been outscored 17-6 during its current 0-3-1 slide.

“To a man, we should all be embarrassed with the effort,” Anaheim forward Derek Grant said after Thursday’s defeat. “Once (the Stars) got their second and third (goals), it’s like we all just sat back and didn’t want to win.

“You can’t play like that in this league, you’re going to get burned. Guys need to be (ticked) off, they need to be embarrassed. It’s not fun for anyone, but you’ve got to find a way to take that and use it for fuel.”

Anaheim has also been outscored 19-6 during an 0-4-1 road skid, and are 0-3-3 at Minnesota since a 3-2 shootout triumph there on Dec. 10, 2019.

The Ducks’ John Gibson is 0-8-2 with a 4.46 goals-against average on the road this season. He made 35 saves in that home loss to Minnesota. Backup Anthony Stolarz, who stopped 35 shots Thursday, has a 4.38 GAA while splitting his four road starts in 2022-23.

Anaheim’s Pavol Regenda scored his first – and thus far only – NHL goal against the Wild this season. Teammate Troy Terry has a team-leading 24 points, and a goal with an assist in the Ducks’ last two games at Minnesota.

Beginning with a 31-save performance versus Anaheim last month, Minnesota’s Filip Gustavsson is 3-1-1 with a 1.96 goals-against average. Meanwhile, Wild starter Marc-Andre Fleury has allowed 10 goals in his last three starts, but owns a 1.54 GAA while winning 12 of his last 13 outings against the Ducks – all with Vegas and Chicago.

Detroit Red Wings forward Tyler Bertuzzi is expected to be sidelined six weeks after undergoing surgery on his left hand, coach Derek Lalonde said on Friday.

Bertuzzi sustained the injury after being hit by a shot from teammate Ben Chiarot late in the third period of Detroit’s 5-4 shootout loss to the Buffalo Sabres on Wednesday.

Bertuzzi, 27, missed a month of action after breaking his right hand in the second game of the season. He has four points (one goal, three assists) in nine games in 2022-23.

Bertuzzi has 192 points (85 goals, 107 assists) in 285 career games since being selected by Detroit in the second round of the 2013 NHL Draft.

He is the nephew of former NHL player Todd Bertuzzi.

–Field Level Media

Any New York Islanders coaches and players who spent Thursday night watching their next opponent saw something very familiar — a win generated by a third-period comeback.

The Nashville Predators will look to complete a successful back-to-back road set Friday night when they oppose the Islanders in Elmont, N.Y.

The Predators opened a three-game road trip against Eastern Conference foes in dramatic fashion Thursday night, when Mikael Granlund scored the tying goal with 10 seconds left in regulation and Ryan Johansen scored 33 seconds into overtime to lift Nashville to a 4-3 win over the New Jersey Devils.

The Islanders haven’t played since Tuesday, when their four-game winning streak was snapped with a 3-1 loss to the host Philadelphia Flyers.

The Predators looked as if they would be the latest team victimized by the Devils, who entered Thursday with 16 wins in their past 17 games and overcame a 2-0 first-period deficit by scoring three times in less than three minutes early in the second.

But the Predators killed off a power play generated with 2:46 left when they were whistled for too many men on the ice, then forced overtime with a six-on-five goal after pulling netminder Juuse Saros.

In OT, Devils goalie Vitek Vanecek had trouble possessing the puck before trying to send a clearing pass off the boards. Matt Duchene outlasted a trio of New Jersey players for the puck and backhanded a pass to Johansen, who went to one knee and fired a shot beyond Vanecek’s stick at the 33-second mark.

“That was huge for us,” said Johansen, who opened the scoring just 11 seconds into the first period. “We could have easily walked out with no points, but we made a couple of big plays and had a great result.”

It was the Predators’ third victory of the season keyed by a third-period comeback. Nashville overcame a two-goal deficit in the last 20 minutes to beat the Vancouver Canucks 4-3 in a shootout on Nov. 5, and the Predators escaped a one-goal hole in the final period of a 4-3 shootout victory over the Arizona Coyotes on Nov. 21.

The usual third-period magic was nowhere to be found Tuesday for New York, which has won four games this season in which it trailed after two periods.

Against the Flyers, the Islanders were outshot 12-7 in the final period despite pulling goalie Ilya Sorokin with about two minutes left. They didn’t muster a serious threat during a six-on-five advantage before Kevin Hayes iced the win for the Flyers with an empty-netter.

“A tough game, really,” Islanders left winger Matt Martin said. “Not a lot of flow to it. (The Flyers) played hard and played well, and we’ve got to be better at the end of the day.”

The defeat capped a challenging night for the Islanders, who lost center Josh Bailey to an upper-body injury in warmups and right winger Cal Clutterbuck to an upper-body injury in the first period. Both are listed as day-to-day.

In addition, New York right winger Kyle Palmieri missed his fourth straight game on Tuesday due to an upper-body injury and was placed on short-term injured reserve on Thursday.

–Field Level Media

Mikael Granlund scored with 10 seconds remaining in the third period and Ryan Johansen tallied 33 seconds into overtime to lift the Nashville Predators to a 4-3 victory over the New Jersey Devils on Thursday in Newark, N.J.

Granlund cleaned up a rebound in front of the net to forge a 3-3 tie. Nashville rode that momentum into overtime and took advantage of New Jersey’s turnover in its own end before Johansen scored from the right hashmarks for his fifth career overtime goal.

Johansen, who collected two goals and an assist, scored 11 seconds into the first period to tie David Legwand’s record for the fastest game-opening goal in franchise history. Colton Sissons tallied late in the first period and Juuse Saros made 25 saves as the Predators, who improved to 6-1-1 in their past eight games.

Kevin Bahl, Jesper Bratt and Alexander Holtz scored 2:38 apart early in the second period for the Devils, who lost for just the second time in their past 18 games (16-1-1). Jack Hughes and Erik Haula each notched two assists.

Kraken 3, Capitals 2 (OT)

Rookie Matty Beniers scored on a breakaway seven seconds into overtime as Seattle extended the longest winning streak in franchise history to seven games with a victory over visiting Washington.

Jaden Schwartz and Yanni Gourde also scored for Seattle, which overcame a 2-0 deficit to improve to 12-1-1 in its past 14 games. Andre Burakovsky and Vince Dunn each had two assists and Philipp Grubauer made 21 saves for the victory.

Conor Sheary had a goal and an assist and Martin Fehervary also tallied for the Capitals, who lost for the seventh time in their past eight road games (1-4-3). Alex Ovechkin had two assists and Darcy Kuemper stopped 22 of 25 shots.

Panthers 5, Canucks 1

Matthew Tkachuk, Gustav Forsling, and Ryan Lomberg each scored within a 59-second span during the first period of Florida’s win at Vancouver. It was the fastest three goals scored in Panthers history.

Tkachuk had two assists to go with his goal, and Sam Bennett scored the Panthers’ other two goals. Panthers goalie Spencer Knight stopped 32 shots. Dakota Joshua tallied Vancouver’s only goal.

Florida won for only the second time in its past eight games (2-3-3), and the victory ended an 0-1-2 winless streak. The Canucks lost their second consecutive game and also lost goalie Thatcher Demko to an apparent lower-body injury in the first period.

Canadiens 2, Flames 1

Cole Caufield’s third-period, power-play goal broke a deadlock and goaltender Jake Allen sparkled to give visiting Montreal a victory over Calgary.

Juraj Slafkovsky also scored for the Canadiens, who have won three of four games and kicked off a four-game road trip with a gritty win. Allen made 45 saves — 21 in the third period alone — in a brilliant performance. Sean Monahan, making his first return to Calgary after nine seasons with the Flames, collected two assists.

Elias Lindholm scored for the Flames, who have lost four of five games (1-3-1). Jacob Markstrom stopped 17 shots in the loss.

Kings 5, Coyotes 3

Anze Kopitar scored two goals, including the game-winner in the third period, to lead Los Angeles to a victory over visiting Arizona.

It was the 41st multi-goal game of Kopitar’s career and his first this season. Kevin Fiala had a goal and an assist and Trevor Moore and Carl Grundstrom also scored goals for Los Angeles, which won for just the second time in its past seven games (2-2-3).

Matias Maccelli had a goal and an assist and Nick Bjugstad and Christian Fischer also scored goals for Arizona, which fell to 1-5-2 in its past eight games.

Lightning 4, Flyers 1

Nicholas Paul scored two goals, Ian Cole added one goal and one assist and Tampa Bay defeated host Philadelphia.

Ross Colton scored a goal, Corey Perry had two assists and Steven Stamkos earned an assist for his 1,000th career point to help the Lightning win for the seventh straight visit to Philadelphia. Tampa Bay improved to 7-2-0 in its past nine games overall.

Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy made 21 saves.

Avalanche 6, Sabres 4

Nathan MacKinnon had two goals with three assists and J.T. Compher scored twice and also added two assists as Colorado struck four times in the second period for a win in Buffalo.

After being humbled in Tuesday’s 5-0 loss at Winnipeg, the Avalanche went 3-for-6 on the power play to win for the fourth time in five road contests. It was MacKinnon’s fifth career five-point game and first of the season. Colorado also got a goal from Artturi Lehkonen and an empty-netter via Mikko Rantanen to extend its winning streak over Buffalo to eight games.

Tage Thompson and Dylan Cozens each had a goal with two assists for the Sabres, who took a 2-1 lead into the second period.

Hurricanes 6, Blues 4

Jordan Martinook scored three goals, including the game-winner, as the visiting Carolina erased a 2-0 second-period deficit to beat St. Louis.

Brent Burns, Seth Jarvis and Jordan Staal also scored for the Hurricanes, and Burns also logged an assist. Antti Raanta stopped 12 of 15 shots for Carolina before Pyotr Kochetkov took over in the third period and saved 10 of 11 shots to earn the victory.

Pavel Buchnevich scored a goal and earned an assist for the Blues, who lost for the fourth time in five games. Noel Acciari, Torey Krug and Ryan O’Reilly also scored for the Blues, Vladimir Tarasenko had two assists and Jordan Binnington made 30 saves.

Wild 5, Oilers 3

Kirill Kaprizov had a goal and two assists to lead host Minnesota to a win against Edmonton in St. Paul.

Kaprizov extended a career-best 10-game point streak and set a franchise record with his ninth straight game with an assist. Joel Eriksson Ek had a goal and an assist and Sam Steel also scored for Minnesota.

Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl each had a goal and an assist for Edmonton, which had a three-game win streak come to an end.

Penguins 4, Golden Knights 3

Kasperi Kapanen’s tiebreaking goal midway through the third period gave Pittsburgh a win over visiting Vegas.

Kapanen, McGinn and Jake Guentzel each had a goal and an assist, and Rickard Rakell also scored for the Penguins, who have points in seven of their past eight games.

Jack Eichel had a goal and an assist, and Reilly Smith and Shea Theodore also scored for the Golden Knights, who have lost three of four.

Stars 5, Ducks 0

Jason Robertson delivered his third career hat trick and Jake Oettinger recorded his second shutout of the season as Dallas cruised to a victory over visiting Anaheim.

Robertson has a league-leading 22 goals on the season, and he extended his point streak to 17 games (20 goals, 12 assists), tied for the third longest in the Dallas Stars/Minnesota North Stars franchise history. Joel Kiviranta and Wyatt Johnson also scored for the Stars. Miro Heiskanen logged three assists and Roope Hintz had two, while Oettinger stopped 31 shots.

Anthony Stolarz made 36 saves for the Ducks, who have lost four in a row and seven of eight.

–Field Level Media

Anze Kopitar scored two goals, including the game-winner in the third period, to lead the Los Angeles Kings to a 5-3 victory over the visiting Arizona Coyotes on Thursday night.

It was the 41st multi-goal game of Kopitar’s career and his first this season. Kevin Fiala had a goal and an assist and Trevor Moore and Carl Grundstrom also scored goals for Los Angeles, which snapped a two-game losing streak and won for just the second time in its past seven games (2-2-3).

Jonathan Quick, pulled after allowing five goals on 14 shots in a wild 9-8 overtime loss to the Seattle Kraken on Tuesday, stopped 18 of 21 shots.

Matias Maccelli had a goal and an assist and Nick Bjugstad and Christian Fischer also scored goals for Arizona, which played the 11th game of an NHL-record-tying 14-game road trip. Dylan Guenther added a pair of assists while Karel Vejmelka made 27 saves as the Coyotes fell to 1-5-2 in their past eight games.

Kopitar gave Los Angeles its first lead at the 5:22 mark of the third period. He deked defenseman J.J. Moser along the right boards and then broke in and rifled a wrist shot inside the top far left corner for his seventh goal of the season.

Fiala sealed the win with an empty-netter with 1:58 remaining, his eighth goal of the season.

Arizona jumped out to a 1-0 lead at the 12:45 mark of the first period on a short-handed breakaway goal by Fischer. He intercepted the puck near the blue line in his own zone and then broke away and beat Quick with a wrist shot on his glove side. It was his fourth goal of the season.

Los Angeles tied it 36 seconds later on a power-play goal by Kopitar, who one-timed a Gabriel Valardi crossing pass from the bottom of the right circle for his sixth goal of the season.

The Coyotes built a 3-1 lead early in the second period on goals by Maccelli, who deflected Troy Stecher’s point shot over Quick’s glove for his second of the season, and Bjugstad, who snapped a wrist shot from the left side of the crease off a Guenther crossing pass for his fifth.

The Kings rallied to tie it 3-3 later in the middle period. Los Angeles got a power-play goal from Moore, who redirected a crossing pass by Viktor Arvidsson for his seventh of the season, and Grundstrom, who finished a two-on-one break with Tobias Bjornfot with a snap shot from the right circle through Vejmelka’s pads for his sixth.

–Field Level Media