Kirill Kaprizov nets hat trick as Wild take care of Hurricanes

Kirill Kaprizov scored three times to record his third career hat trick as the Minnesota Wild topped the Carolina Hurricanes 5-2 on Sunday in Raleigh, N.C.

Joel Eriksson Ek and Jake Middleton also scored and Filip Gustavsson made 40 saves for the Wild, who have won three of their past four games. Eriksson Ek also had a pair of assists, as did Brock Faber.

Kaprizov has now scored five goals in the past two games.

Martin Necas and Michael Bunting scored for the Hurricanes, who completed a six-game homestand with a 3-2-1 record. Goalie Antti Raanta stopped 14 shots in a game that Carolina seemed to dominate at times.

The Hurricanes, who went 0-for-4 on power plays, lost for just the third time in their past 11 games. After scoring five power-play goals on Friday night at Florida, the Wild were 0-for-2 on the man advantage on Sunday.

Kaprizov now has 18 goals on the season, completing his hat trick with an empty-net tally with 2:01 left in the game. Middleton then capped the scoring with an empty-netter of his own just over a minute later.

The Wild used a strong forecheck to set up Eriksson Ek's 19th marker of the season, which came with 10:28 remaining in the third period to make it 3-2 - just 1:15 after Bunting had tied things at 2.

Necas, who was in his second game back after missing just over two weeks with an upper-body injury, contributed a point for the second straight game. His 11th goal of the season came at 14:02 of the first period to open the scoring.

Kaprizov tied the game with 2:17 left in the opening frame, tipping in the puck off Alex Goligoski's delivery. Kaprizov's second goal of the game came at 6:18 of the second.

The Hurricanes played without winger Andrei Svechnikov, who is dealing with an upper-body injury.

-Fie