Wild Beat Sharks 5-2 For 8th Straight Win

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Jordan Greenway scored doubly and the Minnesota Wild bushed the San Jose Sharks 5-2 connected Thursday nighttime for their eighth consecutive win.

Kevin Fiala, Joel Eriksson Ek and Kirill Kaprizov besides scored for the Wild, who took implicit the NHL pb with 39 points, their astir done 26 games successful franchise history.

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“I deliberation it’s great,” Fiala said. “We’re specified a choky group. We ever judge successful it. … Inside our room, we privation to beryllium connected apical of the league and close present I deliberation we are. It’s inactive early, truthful we conscionable person to support it going.”

Jonathan Dahlen and Tomas Hertl scored for the Sharks.

Minnesota’s eight-game winning streak is the longest existent tally successful the league and the third-longest successful franchise history. The Wild person scored astatine slightest 4 goals successful 7 consecutive games.

“It’s conscionable a immense recognition to the room, their mentation for the game,” Wild manager Dean Evason praised. “We’re blessed the mode that we’re conducting ourselves successful the close way.”

Added Greenway: “We privation to beryllium the apical team. We privation to enactment connected top. So successful bid for america to bash that, we’ve got to proceed to bash the things that person gotten america here.”

Cam Talbot made 33 saves to amended to 15-5. Adin Hill made 22 saves and fell to 6-8.

Fiala enactment the Wild up 1-0 early, scoring his 4th extremity of the play with 13:38 near successful the archetypal period.

Eriksson Ek and Greenway added power-play goals successful the 2nd to springiness Minnesota a 3-0 lead.

Dahlen got San Jose connected the committee with 16:31 remaining successful the 3rd period, deflecting Erik Karlsson’s constituent changeable past Talbot.

Hertl scored his team-leading 13th extremity connected the powerfulness play with 6:34 near to bring the Sharks wrong one.

“I was arrogant of our guys for battling back,” Sharks manager Bob Boughner said. “I don’t deliberation we had our champion legs successful the archetypal 2 periods, but we recovered different cogwheel successful the third. It conscionable wasn’t bully capable tonight.”

Greenway and Kaprizov scored empty-netters successful the last minutes to seal the win. Kaprizov besides had an assistance and has recorded 5 goals and 9 assists during his career-best seven-game constituent streak.

“We cognize arsenic overmuch arsenic anybody that teams aren’t going to quit,” Evason said. “They’re conscionable going to support coming, and surely astatine the extremity of the crippled they did. It’s a large league and teams are existent good. We liked a batch of things we did successful this hockey crippled defensively and we’ll instrumentality that going forward.”

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BURNS TIES RECORD

Sharks D Brent Burns played successful his 624th consecutive game, tying Patrick Marleau for the longest streak successful franchise history. He had 2 shots connected extremity successful 22:50.

REIMER BACK IN UNIFORM

James Reimer served arsenic San Jose’s backup goaltender aft missing 4 games with a non-COVID-19 illness. The Sharks reassigned G Alexei Melnichuk to the AHL’s San Jose Barracuda.

SHAW MAKES NHL DEBUT

It was an affectional nighttime for Wild halfway Mason Shaw, who made his long-awaited NHL debut aft recovering from 3 ACL surgeries, including 2 since being drafted successful the 4th circular by Minnesota successful 2017.

“There’s been immoderate obstacles on the mode that person challenged me, but I genuinely judge that it led maine to this constituent for a reason,” Shaw said.

The 23-year-old astir scored successful his archetypal game, hitting the near station successful the 2nd period. He finished with 2 shots connected extremity successful 10:38.

“You’ve got to person bully radical successful your country — my family, teammates, coaches — a batch of bully radical astir maine keeping maine going due to the fact that determination were for definite immoderate times wherever you had immoderate doubts,” Shaw said. “And past conscionable a emotion for the game. I mean, this is what (I’ve) dreamed astir since I was a kid, truthful to yet get here, it’s an astonishing feeling.”

NOTES

Wild skipper Jared Spurgeon returned aft missing 8 games with a lower-body injury. … Minnesota D Matt Dumba missed the crippled with a non-COVID-19 illness. … Wild C Frédérick Gaudreau remains successful COVID-19 protocol, missing his 5th consecutive game. … Sharks RW Kevin Labanc was reinserted into the lineup aft being a steadfast scratch past game.

UP NEXT

Wild: Visit Los Angeles connected Saturday.

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Sharks: Host Dallas connected Saturday.