Minnesota Wild Eriksson Ek Tie-Breaker Win Over Coyotes

TEMPE, Ariz. -- — Joel Eriksson Ek broke a third-period tie with his 29th goal, Marc-Andre Fleury made 23 saves and the Minnesota Wild beat the Arizona Coyotes 5-2 on Thursday night.

After Zach Bogosian pulled the Wild even at 2 two minutes into the third period, Ek beat goalie Karel Vejmelka with a wrist shot from the left circle at 7:16.

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“I like how we didn’t overthink it and kept playing,” said Fleury, whose team fell behind 2-1 early in the third.

Kirill Kaprizov had his 30th goal, Brock Faber and Connor Seward added empty-netters and Mats Zuccarello had three assists. Minnesota has won two straight after a three-game skid dropped it nine points out of the final Western Conference wild card.

Fleury had his second victory in three weeks and is 19-10-1 against the Coyotes. He is 6-2-0 with a 2.12 goals against average in 10 appearances since January 13th.

Vejmelka made 23 saves for the Coyotes. They have lost two in a row and 16 of 18.

Clayton Keller and Michael Carcone scored seven seconds apart in the first 1:28 of the third to give Arizona a 2-1 lead, but Bogosian tied it 32 seconds later when he put a wrist shot through a scramble in front of the net.

The Wild is at Colorado on Friday night.