Wild cruise to win, knock Kraken to brink of elimination

Joel Eriksson Ek scored and had two assists while Matt Boldy and Marcus Johansson each had a goal and an assist as the Minnesota Wild won their fourth straight game, downing the visiting Seattle Kraken 5-2 on Tuesday.

Marcus Foligno and Vladimir Tarasenko also scored for Minnesota (45-21-2, 102 points), which is battling the Dallas Stars for second place in the Central Division. Jesper Wallstedt made 25 saves to win his third straight start.

Brandon Montour and Adam Larsson both scored for the Kraken (32-34-11, 75 points), who have lost six straight (0-5-1) and fell to 3-12-2 in their last 17 games to fall even further out of playoff contention.

Seattle, which has been outscored 27-10 during this six-game losing streak, is on the verge of missing the playoffs for the third straight season and fourth time in the franchise's five-year history.

Montour put the Kraken in front midway through the first period with a slapshot from the point off a feed from Kaapo Kakko. It was Montour's 11th goal.

Boldy evened the score 94 seconds later, scoring on a rebound after Seattle goaltender Joey Daccord (24 saves) stopped Eriksson El's initial attempt. Boldy nimbly chested the puck out of midair and got his stick on it just before it crossed the line for his 42nd of the season.

Larsson put the Kraken right back in front 73 seconds later, beating Wallstedt between his legs after receiving a pass from Chandler Stephenson.

Foligno evened the game early in the second for Minnesota before Tarasenko put the Wild ahead for good with 7:14 left in the period, tapping the puck into an open net after Daccord made a save but lost sight of the puck. It was Tarasenko's 23rd of the season.

Jaden Schwartz had an equalizer disallowed for Seattle earlier in the period, as teammate Frederick Gaudreau was tagged for goalie interference.

Boldy had a nifty individual effort that ended with him finding Johannson on the back side for an easy finish to double Minnesota's lead 6:49 into the third period. Boldy's 42 goals and 83 points are both second on the team, behind Kirill Kaprizov.

Eriksson Ek added an empty-netter late in the period for his 19th goal of the year.

--Field Level Media