ST. PAUL, Minn. — The winning habits the Wild picked up on the road followed the team home.
After a productive trip, the team returned to Xcel Energy Center and stymied the Canadiens for the second time in a week, running away, 4-1, in front of 16,385 for their fifth victory over the last seven games.
Kirill Kaprizov is up to a team-high eight goals after scoring twice, Mason Shaw tallied his second in as many appearances and Marco Rossi snagged his first NHL point.
Behind them, goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury continued his resurgence with a 34-save effort to extend his 5-0-1 run.
Add in two points apiece by Joel Eriksson Ek and Matt Boldy and an effective night on the power play, and the Wild passed their first game-long test without injured forwards Marcus Foligno, Jordan Greenway and Ryan Hartman; the Wild went down another forward when Brandon Duhaime left early due to an upper-body injury.
Those absences have created more opportunity for the Wild's youth, with Shaw getting elevated to Boldy's line after he recorded his first NHL goal Sunday at Chicago, and the Wild rookies didn't shrink under the spotlight when the team descended on St. Paul for a brief homestand.
Just 1 minute, 9 seconds into the second period, Shaw whacked in a rebound off an Eriksson Ek shot with his backhand for his third point in two games and fifth overall. Shaw, a fourth-round pick by the Wild in 2017, was one of the final cuts at training camp but has been with the team ever since Greenway was injured Oct. 20.
Only 2:20 after Shaw's goal, Kaprizov converted on the power play with a slick deflection off a Boldy pass. Eriksson Ek also assisted on the goal for his third multi-point game of the season, and the power play finished 1 for 3.
Then with 5:05 to go in the second, Kaprizov connected on a puck that was batted down to the ice by Rossi.
Montreal challenged the goal to see if Rossi used a high stick, but video review determined Rossi's stick wasn't above his shoulder height when he tipped the puck and the goal counted. The Canadiens' Jake Allen totaled 27 saves. He was also in net for the 3-1 loss to the Wild last Tuesday in Montreal.
Kaprizov came close to burying a hat trick, ringing a shot off the post in the third period, but the Canadiens' Nick Suzuki and Boldy were the only ones to capitalize in the period.
Suzuki spoiled Fleury's shutout bid with a one-timer on the power play at 13:30 before Boldy wired the puck into an empty net with 3:08 to go.
This was Kaprizov's second two-goal game of the season. His eight through 10 games are the second-most in franchise history; Brian Rolston had nine goals in 2006-07.
As for Rossi, the assist was his first with the Wild and although he hasn't been a lightning rod for offense after making the team out of camp, the Wild have noticed progress in his play.
After only two shot attempts in his first three games, Rossi, the ninth overall selection in 2020, had six on the recent five-game road trip and another three on Tuesday.
"We put a lot of heat on guys on that that are first-round draft picks, and they're supposed to be here," Wild coach Dean Evason said before the game. "It takes time. Everybody develops differently, and he's developing. He's progressing. He's getting more confident every single day.
"He's young. He's going to go through some learning curves and ups and downs, and we're going to live with it. We've made a decision that he's made our hockey club, and he's going to play. He's played very well and continued to get better every game, and that's what we're looking for."
