Minnesota Wild at Anaheim Ducks

Gustavsson gets 3rd shutout of season, Kaprizov extends point streak to 8 games as Wild blank Ducks

Gustavsson stopped 27 shots for his sixth career shutout. Ryan Hartman had a goal and an assist while Jon Merrill and Jacob Lucchini also scored.

“We knew we were going to spend a lot of time in their zone, and the guys played really good. We were down there most of the game,” Gustavsson said.

Minnesota has won four of its last five and picked up a point in its eighth straight game, going 6-0-2. With Vegas' 5-3 loss to Tampa Bay, the Wild are three points behind the Golden Knights for the Western Conference's second wild card.

John Gibson made 28 saves as Anaheim dropped its seventh straight and was blanked for the third time in four games, including a 2-0 loss at Minnesota on March 14.

It is the first time in the Ducks 30-year franchise history they have had two losing streaks of at least seven games in the same season. Anaheim had an eight-game skid in November after starting the campaign with nine wins in its first 15 games.

“Yeah, trying to keep up the mood is not easy (after) losing seven games in a row. It’s not fun losing. We just have to get back on track soon,” forward Frank Vatrano said.

After the Wild scored twice in the opening two minutes of the second period, Kaprizov made it 3-0 11:50 into the period on a power play when he jammed in the puck with plenty of traffic around the net. He has scored a goal in five straight games, and has 10 goals and 14 points during his point streak.

Kaprizov is in his fourth season with the Wild. He reached 150 goals in 265 games, the fastest of the four players in franchise history to reach that milestone.

After a scoreless first period, Minnesota coach John Hynes shuffled his left wings, moving Kaprizov down to the second line, Marcus Foligno from the third to the first and Marcus Johansson from the second to the third.

The changes quickly had their desired effect.

Hartman put in a rebound 35 seconds into the second period after Gibson made a pad save on Foligno's shot. It was Hartman's 18th of the season and his third in five games.

Merrill made it 2-0 at 1:56 with a wrist shot near the boards just outside the left faceoff circle that went off the far post and into the net. In his third NHL game, Marat Khusnutdinov picked up his first point with an assist.

“It wasn’t a bad first period by any means, but I just didn’t think we had a ton going on,” Hynes said. “Then a couple changes and then we got off to a quick start in the second, and I think we were able to build the game the right way from there.”

Lucchini scored his second of the season 13:03 into the third on a two-on-one break.

Minnesota defenseman Jonas Brodin suffered a lower-body injury during the third period and did not return.

UP NEXT

Wild: Remain in Southern California to face the Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday night.

Ducks: Host the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday night.

MIN wins series 2-1