Streaking Wild top West after 4-1 victory over Sharks

ST. PAUL — Two teams passed in the night on Friday at Grand Casino Arena, one going one way, the other going another. Neither changed course. Kirill Kaprizov scored his NHL-leading 16th goal and had the primary assist on Maxim Shabanov s sixth tallly, and the streaking Wild held off San Jose, 4-1, to send the Sharks to their sixth loss in seven games. Quinn Hughes and Zach Bogosian also scored goals for the Wild, who extended their points streak to seven games (6-0-1) and took sole possession first place in the Western Conference. San Jose, meanwhile, came into Friday s game licking the wounds of a 3-6-1 skid. After a 7-2 loss to the Kings on Wednesday in Los Angeles, the Sharks called a players-only meeting to address the way the team had been playing. Whatever was said in the visitors locker room at Crypto.com Arena, it seemed to do some good. Despite starting the game flat-footed, and falling behind 1-0 on Kaprizov s 5-on-3 power-play goal, the Sharks found thei