ST. PAUL, Minn.—Marc-Andre Fleury needed only 16 saves Thursday night to record his 75th career shutout as the Minnesota Wild blanked the Anaheim Ducks 2–0 at Xcel Energy Center.
Fleury is 11th on the NHL shutouts list, one behind Ed Belfour and Tony Esposito. The 39-year-old goaltender got plenty of help from his teammates, who were credited with 16 blocked shots.
Kirill Kaprizov and Zach Bogosian scored for the Wild, which improved to 5–0–1 in the past six games. Minnesota entered the night six points behind Vegas for the final wild-card playoff position in the Western Conference.
Lukas Dostal stopped 29 shots for the Ducks, who have dropped four in a row.
Minnesota jumped in front when Bogosian rifled a slap shot through traffic 14:44 into the first period. The defenseman one-timed a pass off the side wall from the left point and beat a screened Dostal for his third goal of the season.
Two minutes into the second, Fleury stopped a breakaway by Brett Leason, and the Wild countered with their own rush the other way. Kaprizov got his 34th goal of the season on a tap-in at the goalmouth off a pass from Ryan Hartman.
Kaprizov extended his point streak to six games with his eighth goal in that stretch.
The Ducks appeared to cut it to 2–1 early in the third when Pavol Regenda hammered the puck past Fleury in the crease. Minnesota challenged the play, however, and the goal was nullified due to an Anaheim player being offside on the entry into the Wild zone.
Ducks: At Winnipeg on Friday.
Wild: At St. Louis on Saturday.
