GLENDALE, Ariz. – Cam Talbot was airtight after the Wild finally supplied him with some run support.
But it was how Talbot performed early when the team was behind that likely made the Wild's late-game push matter, a 4-1 come-from-behind win over the Coyotes Wednesday at Gila River Arena that was another stellar showing by the goaltender in his first season with the Wild.
"Now we can joke that it could have been 10-0 in the first if it wasn't for this guy," winger Marcus Foligno said. "Just been like that all year, obviously the relief that we have and just the confidence that we have in Cam and even Kaapo [Kahkonen], it's huge for our team and you can't have success without goaltending. So, that's going to be huge going into the playoffs and for a playoff push.
"But tonight was awesome by him. The saves, the calmness back there when it looked like we didn't have our legs. When you have a goaltender that can do that for you, then you see where we can get into games and we can be dangerous in the third period and steal two points."
Arizona opened the scoring on the power play, banking in a shot off Talbot en route to a 12-1 advantage in shots, but the deficit didn't grow because of Talbot. And in the third, after tying the game in the second, the Wild scored three goals to assist his efforts.
Overall, Talbot finished with 39 saves to sit 5-0-1 over his past six starts. He's also 4-0-2 with a 1.92 goals-against average and .939 save percentage in his last six starts on the road.
Talbot, who signed a three-year, $11 million contract as a free agent in the offseason, also became the fourth Wild goalie to secure 16 wins in 26 games played or less, joining Devan Dubnyk, Josh Harding and Niklas Backstrom.
"I felt good from the get-go," Talbot said. "I got into it early, obviously, with a lot of shots early, and I wasn't happy with the goal that went in. You never want to let one in from below the goal line that goes off you. But just tried to stay focused [and] stop the next ones."
With the comeback, the Wild pushed its win streak to five games. This is the third time they've won at least that many games in a row this season, an accomplishment the franchise had achieved only two other seasons (in 2014-15 and 2011-12).
"The job's not done," Foligno said. "We haven't made the playoffs. I don't think we're desperate as much as [the Coyotes] are, but we want to be a team that gets in the playoffs and secures a good spot."
After having a goal disallowed in Monday's 5-2 victory, Foligno delivered the game-winner Wednesday – a breakaway finish in the third period. Foligno is on a three-game point streak and has 11 points over his past 12 games.
"When you get one kind of taken away from you, you want it back," he said. "So, it's always nice redemption. A very big goal there."
Kirill Kaprizov also had a memorable goal, setting a new franchise record for most goals in a season when he recorded his 19th after Foligno's in the third period to pass Marian Gaborik's 18 from 2000-01.
This record-breaking game came on the heels of another, as Kaprizov moved ahead of Gaborik for the franchise's all-time points record for a rookie in a single season after he registered No.37 on Monday.
"There's not many nights that he goes silent and you don't see him," coach Dean Evason said. "He's usually involved in a lot of areas of the game. He's had a wonderful start to his NHL career."
