The Minnesota Wild beat the Seattle Kraken 5-1 on Saturday at Climate Pledge Arena, getting two goals from Blake Coleman and a dominant third-period showing after a tight opening frame. The win pushed Minnesota to 7-3-2 on the season.
Kirill Kaprizov opened the scoring 26 seconds in, but Seattle’s Berkly Catton tied it at 10:13 of the first period. Minnesota took control in the second period, scoring three times to build a 4-1 lead. Coleman added an empty-room wrist shot late in the third to close out the scoring and finish with a team-high two goals.
Key Moments: How The Wild Pulled Away
Kaprizov’s backhand goal at 0:26 of the first period, assisted by Joel Eriksson Ek and Quinn Hughes, gave Minnesota the earliest possible lead. Catton tied it at 10:13 on a wrist shot set up by Kaapo Kakko and Brandon Montour, and the Kraken trailed 1-1 after 20 minutes.
The second period belonged to the Wild. Coleman put Minnesota back in front at 2:11 with a wrist shot assisted by Matt Kiersted. Olli Maatta made it 3-1 at 11:33 off a feed from Ryan Hartman, and Eriksson Ek extended the lead to 4-1 at 13:00, assisted by Matt Boldy and Kaprizov. Coleman’s second goal of the night, an unassisted wrist shot at 16:24 of the third period, made it 5-1 and finished the scoring.
Top Performers
Coleman led all skaters with two goals and finished with a game-high two points. Eriksson Ek had a goal and an assist, while Kaprizov contributed a goal and an assist of his own. Quinn Hughes logged a game-high 22:49 of ice time and picked up an assist on the opening goal.
Minnesota’s Jesper Wallstedt stopped 23 of 24 shots for a .958 save percentage. Seattle’s Joey Daccord took the loss with 31 saves on 35 shots for an .886 save percentage. The Wild outshot the Kraken 36-24. Seattle won the faceoff battle 41-22 (65.1%), but could not convert that edge into goals.
What It Means
The result moves Minnesota to 16 points in the Central Division, tied with Utah for the division lead. Seattle drops to 7-4-1 and sits in third place in the Pacific Division with 15 points, trailing both Edmonton and Vegas, who each have 17. Minnesota now leads the season series 1-0 over the Kraken.
The loss snapped a stretch of solid form for Seattle, which had been getting offensive contributions from Catton and Montour but could not generate enough five-on-five pressure against Wallstedt once Minnesota built its lead.
What’s Next
Minnesota continues its road trip following the win, while Seattle looks to regroup after managing just one goal on 24 shots.
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