Joel Eriksson Ek scored his team-leading 24th goal of the season and the Minnesota Wild topped the Arizona Coyotes 3-1 inside Mullet Arena on Wednesday night in Tempe, Arizona.
Eriksson Ek lit the lamp on a Minnesota power play in the first period. Then in the second period, the Wild took a 2-0 lead on Jonas Brodin's third goal of the season.
Ex-Minnesota Gophers star Logan Cooley cut Arizona's deficit to 2-1 with a goal early in the third period, but the Wild reclaimed a two-goal cushion on Matt Boldy's 19th of the season with 9:56 to play.
Fun fact 1: Eriksson Ek's career high is 26 goals. He's at 24 in just 53 games this season.
Fun fact 2: Minnesota out-shot Arizona 43-26 and Kirill Kaprizov led the Wild with eight shots on goal.
Minnesota has won four consecutive games and is 8-2 in their last 10, improving to 25-23-5 for the season. With 55 points they are just three points behind St. Louis for the second wild card in the Western Conference, though they're also chasing Nashville (56 points) and Calgary (55 points).
The Los Angeles Kings own the first wild card with 58 points, but they've played just 50 games compared to 52 games played by the Blues and 53 for Minnesota.
Up next: Wild vs. Buffalo Sabres, 4 p.m. CT on Saturday.
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