Vinni Lettieri scored the winning goal with just under seven minutes to play and the Minnesota Wild beat the Ottawa Senators 3-2 on Tuesday night to earn a crucial two points and keep their faint playoff hopes alive. Mason Shaw scored for the first time in more than a year, Matt Boldy had a goal, and Marc-Andre Fleury made 30 saves for the Wild, who are six points behind the Los Angeles Kings for the second Western Conference wild-card spot with eight games to play. Lettieri and Shaw are on the Wild’s fourth line with Jacob Lucchini.
Matt Boldy broke a tie 18 seconds into the third period and the Minnesota Wild beat the NHL-worst San Jose Sharks 3-1 on Thursday to pick up a couple of points in their slim playoff bid. Joel Eriksson Ek also scored, Ryan Hartman added an empty-net goal and Kirill Kaprizov had two assists. Filip Gustavsson made 26 saves and assisted on Hartman’s goal to help Minnesota improve to 7-1-3 in its last 11 games.
Jordan Kyrou scored a hat trick and Brandon Saad tallied 2:05 into overtime to give the St. Louis Blues a 5-4 victory over the Minnesota Wild on Saturday.
Kirill Kaprizov scored two goals and assisted on another, and Marc-Andre Fleury made 21 saves as the Minnesota Wild earned their fourth victory in five games, 4-1 over the Arizona Coyotes on Tuesday night. Kaprizov scored an empty-netter with 2:32 to play, firing the puck the length of the ice to seal the win. Arizona had pulled goalie Karel Vejmelka with just under three minutes remaining.