- Quinn Hughes had two assists in the Wild’s 4-2 win over Vegas to run his season-opening point streak to six games
- No American defenseman has opened a season with a longer streak since John-Michael Liles in 2010-11
- Read below for the Wild’s special teams numbers and a scary moment for Nico Sturm
Quinn Hughes is six games into the season and still hasn’t been held off the scoresheet.
Hughes picked up two assists in Monday’s 4-2 win over the Golden Knights, stretching his season-opening point streak to six games, per NHL.com. The streak ties for the sixth longest of its kind by an American defenseman in NHL history, and it is the longest since Liles ran off nine games in 2010-11.
He has two goals and seven assists for nine points so far, and he set up Matt Boldy’s opener at 11:50 of the first period, a rebound goal that got Minnesota started. He also entered the night eight points shy of 500 for his career, according to The Hockey News.
Minnesota built the lead fast. Maxim Shabanov scored on the power play at 14:32, then Danila Yurov made it 3-0 at 16:57 after Bobby Brink found him alone on the backdoor.
Check out Yurov’s goal from our timeline:
Rieger Lorenz picked up the second assist on that one. It was his first NHL point in just his second game.
Vegas did make it interesting. Rasmus Andersson cut it to 3-1 early in the second, and William Karlsson made it 3-2 midway through the third on a 2-on-1 with Brett Howden. Joel Eriksson Ek sealed it with an empty-netter with 1:22 left, and Jesper Wallstedt finished with 21 saves.
Shabanov’s goal also tied a franchise record, with the Wild scoring on the power play in six straight games to start a season. Their power play leads the league at 7 for 17, and the penalty kill is 21 for 22 after stopping all five Vegas chances, the best mark in the NHL. The Wild also took down the Panthers behind a Kaprizov hat trick on Saturday.
Not everything went the Wild’s way. Nico Sturm took a Jared Spurgeon slap shot off the side of the head with 2:14 left in the first period and needed help getting off the ice. He did not return with an upper-body injury.
See the moment Sturm went down:
Hughes is carrying a heavy load too. Brock Faber has been out all season with a skull fracture, and Hughes played 29:30 in an overtime loss to Buffalo and 32:36 against Tampa Bay in the first week.
Next up is Winnipeg on Tuesday, which gives Hughes a shot at seven straight.
