RALEIGH, N.C. – The Wild were outshot but not outscored.
Their less-is-more approach earned them a 5-2 win over the Hurricanes on Sunday at PNC Arena and a solid 2-1 showing on their road trip.
Next up is a three-game homestand beginning Tuesday vs. Washington.
Kirill Kaprizov scored his third NHL hat trick, Joel Eriksson Ek delivered the final go-ahead goal, and goaltender Filip Gustavsson snagged his second win in a row after stopping a whopping 40 shots compared to Carolina’s Antti Raanta’s 14 saves.
Eriksson Ek broke a 2-2 tie at 9 minutes, 32 seconds of the third period when he jammed in his own rebound only 1:15 after Michael Bunting erased the Wild’s lead with a rising shot at 8:17.
Kaprizov completed the hat trick into an empty net with 2:01 to go before Jake Middleton chipped in another empty-netter at 19:04.
After a 7-0 run in shots to start, the Hurricanes finally converted on No. 14, a Martin Necas scorcher at 14 minutes, 2 seconds after the Wild failed to clear the zone.
Carolina tested Gustavsson four more times in the first period but exited even with the Wild.
On the team’s second shot, Kaprizov tipped in a wind-up from Alex Goligoski at 17:43.
Then on the Wild’s six shot, Kaprizov turned in the slot and hurled the puck by Raanta 6:18 into the second period while Eriksson Ek was setting a screen in front of the net.
Kaprizov is up to 17 goals, which is two shy of team leader Eriksson Ek (19)
This was the second time in Kaprizov’s career he’s scored multiple goals in consecutive games; he also had a pair in the 6-4 win at Florida on Friday night.
The Wild power play’s five goals was key to that win against the Panthers, but the unit went 0-for-2 on Sunday; the Hurricanes were 0-for-4.