ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Wild are about to get back on the road for a two-game trip to Colorado, but the team will have momentum waiting for it when it returns to St. Paul.
After blanking the Coyotes, 3-0, on Tuesday to sweep their five-game homestand, the Wild have won eight in a row at Xcel Energy Center to tie the franchise record for the longest win streak on home ice.
This is the fourth time the Wild have strung together eight consecutive victories at home, with a Nov.23-Dec.29, 2016, run the most recent until this stretch.
But that's not the only streak that persevered.
Overall, the Wild have won five straight games and goalie Kaapo Kahkonen is 9-0 in his last nine starts after turning aside 31 Arizona shots for his second career shutout and second in his past three appearances.
Not only is Kahkonen's streak a franchise record for a rookie, but he's the first netminder in the NHL this season to post nine consecutive wins. His 12 victories have tied Darcy Kuemper (2013-14) for the most in a season by a Wild rookie.
Ryan Hartman supplied the offense, scoring just 1 minute, 37 seconds into the game, until Mats Zuccarello buried the Wild's 4,000th regular-season goal in the third period and captain Jared Spurgeon tallied his first goal of the season. Combine that with another terrific effort by the penalty kill and Kahkonen's solid play, and the Wild had enough to stymie the Coyotes.
Of the three matchups between the Wild and Arizona to close out this series between West Division rivals, this was the feistiest — a physical battle that set in after Hartman gave the Wild an early lead.
Jordan Greenway flung Hartman's pass wide of the net, but Hartman scooped up the rebound and put it behind goalie Adin Hill from a difficult angle.
Near the midway point of the period, Carson Soucy was assessed a charging major for his hit on the Coyotes' Conor Garland along the boards.
On Arizona's ensuing power play, Kahkonen made five stops — including a slick sliding pad save on Clayton Keller, who was facing an open side before Kahkonen swooped over.
Blocked shots were also key, with Ian Cole taking a Derick Brassard attempt off the left hand to go along with other blocks from captain Jared Spurgeon and Joel Eriksson Ek.
When Soucy returned to the ice, he was confronted by the Coyotes' Lawson Crouse, who pummeled Soucy with punches.
Crouse was kicked out of the game, getting penalized for instigating, fighting and being the aggressor. Despite being on the receiving end, Soucy was also had to sit for five minutes for fighting.
The Wild didn't convert on the power play, going 0 for 3, but the penalty kill again stepped up in the second period after Greenway was sent to the box for an illegal check to the head to Arizona captain Oliver Ekman-Larsson.
This time, the Wild were even cleaner by not surrendering a shot on goal.
In the third, the PK was tested again and continued to weather the pressure — which included 1:09 of a 5-on-3 for the Coyotes.
The penalty kill finished 4 for 4 to end up a perfect 16 for 16 on the homestand.
At 2:07 of the third, Zuccarello's shot from the top of the left faceoff circle slipped by Hill's glove to give the Wild an insurance goal and push his point streak to four games. With an assist, rookie Kirill Kaprizov also is on a four-game point streak.
And with 6:03 to go, Spurgeon's point shot sailed in for his first goal since March 7, 2020 — a 26-game dry spell.
Hill had 23 saves.
