Crouse scores twice, Mammoth end Wild’s winning streak at 6
Clayton Keller had a goal and two assists, and Nick Schmaltz, Jack McBain and Mikhail Sergachev each had two assists for the Mammoth (31-24-4), who have won three of their past four games. Karel Vejmelka made 21 saves.
Matt Boldy had a goal and an assist to extend his point streak to eight games (eight goals, nine assists), and Kirill Kaprizov scored for the Wild (35-15-10), who are 9-2-1 in their past 12 games. Jesper Wallstedt made 32 saves.
Cooley opened the scoring with a short-handed goal at 13:23 of the first period, beating Wallstedt between the legs off a pass from McBain to give the Mammoth a 1-0 lead.
Keller scored from the slot to make it 2-0 at 4:26 of the second period after Schmaltz won a puck battle at the half-wall.
Crouse went forehand-backhand in the slot off a centering pass from Keller to make it 3-0 at 7:49.
Dylan Guenther appeared to make it 4-0 at 12:46, but Minnesota challenged the play for offside and the goal was disallowed.
Kaprizov scored a power-play goal at 14:03 to cut it to 3-1, tapping in Boldy’s pass from the opposite side at the right post.
Hayton made it 4-1 on the power play at 1:19 of the third period, scoring off a rebound with a backhand at the left post.
Crouse scored his second goal at 12:48, redirecting a pass in the slot from Sean Durzi to extend the lead to 5-1.
Boldy scored in the slot off Vladimir Tarasenko’s centering pass at 14:05 for the 5-2 final.
Minnesota’s Joel Eriksson Ek left the game at 17:06 of the second period after taking a high stick to the face from Schmaltz and did not return to the game.
