Minnesota Wild at Carolina Hurricanes

Filip Gustavsson makes 20 saves in the Wild's 4-0 victory over the Hurricanes

The Wild improved to 16-5-2 when scoring first this season as Mats Zuccarello beat Pyotr Kochetkov on a slap shot for a 1-0 lead with 6:57 left in the first period.

Zuccarello, who also assisted on Joel Eriksson Ek’s tip-in goal on the power play in the second period, added an empty net goal with 3:46 remaining. Matt Boldy also scored in the third.

The short-handed Wild won their third consecutive game despite missing leading scorer Kirill Kaprizov (sidelined for a fifth consecutive game by a lower-body injury) and captain Jared Spurgeon (out at least two weeks with a right leg injury).

Takeaways Wild: Despite lacking its best players on offense (Kaprizov) and defense (Spurgeon), Minnesota improved to 25-11-4 with its fourth victory in five games. With 52 points, it has the third-best start through 40 games in franchise history.

Hurricanes: Carolina managed only one shot in the first 12 minutes, which included a four-minute power play.

Key moment The Hurricanes briefly were on the scoreboard with 5:01 left in the second period after Jalen Chatfield banked the puck off Minnesota’s Jonas Brodin and past Gustavsson. But the goal was disallowed because Carolina was ruled offsides after Minnesota coach John Hynes challenged the play.

Key stat Minnesota improved to 16-0-0 when leading after two periods.

Up Next The Wild will return home to play St. Louis on Tuesday night. The Hurricanes host Pittsburgh on Sunday night in the seventh of 14 back-to-back sets this season.

MIN leads series 1-0