When coach Dean Evason moved Mats Zuccarello onto a line with Kirill Kaprizov and Victor Rask, the Wild suddenly had a potent top trio. It combined for 14 points in its first two games together, and 16 goals and 28 assists in 16 games since Feb. 20.
Over the past three games, however, the line has been largely shut down, held to Rask's goal, assisted by Zuccarello, in Thursday's 5-1 loss at Colorado.
The Wild had to find scoring from other sources, and in Monday's 2-1 victory over Anaheim, it was defenseman Ryan Suter's first goal of the season and the solid work of the fourth line of Nick Bjugstad, Nick Bonino and Nico Sturm that came through.
"We've talked about that all year, the contributions from all of our 'D' and both of our goaltenders, and all four of our lines,'' said Bjugstad, whose goal 3:42 into the third period, his fifth of the season, put the Wild ahead for good. "You gotta pitch in when you can. That Kaprizov line, Zuccarello, they've contributed a ton. There's going to be some nights where teams are matching up nice against them, and they still had their chances, but it's a good full team effort.''
Suter's goal tied the score 1-1 at 16:21 of the second period and came with the man advantage after two previous unsuccessful power plays in the period.
"Big goal by Sutes,'' Bjugstad said. "That was a great all-around play on the power play. Obviously, we've had our chances.''
The Wild's power play went 1-for-3 Monday, leaving it at 9-for-97 on the season, last in the NHL at 9.3%.
Parise makes presence known
Though he was held without a point for the fourth consecutive game, Wild veteran Zach Parise was a factor in Monday's game, providing energy on the forecheck and drawing two Ducks penalties. He nearly scored on the second one, when Jacob Larsson was forced to hook him to prevent a tap-in goal.
