Kaprizov's four-point night powers Wild past Sharks 4-1
A goal and three assists took the NHL's hottest scorer to a seven-game point streak — and took Minnesota to the top of the West.
When one player is involved in every meaningful moment of a game, the scoreline almost writes itself. Kirill Kaprizov scored his NHL-leading 16th goal and added three assists as the Minnesota Wild beat the San Jose Sharks 4-1 in St. Paul on Friday, extending his point streak to seven games, per NHL.com's recap.
How it unfolded
Kaprizov opened it with a 5-on-3 power-play one-timer late in the first period. Macklin Celebrini tied it for San Jose at 12:11 of the second, redirecting a Dmitry Orlov shot — his seventh goal of the season — but the response was almost immediate: Maxim Shabanov tapped in a backdoor power-play pass from Kaprizov at 14:15, and Minnesota led the rest of the way.
Quinn Hughes made it 3-1 at 6:54 of the third with a wrist shot, finishing a three-point night of his own (one goal, two assists), and Zach Bogosian's first goal of the season sealed the 4-1 final. Jesper Wallstedt stopped 23 shots — MPR News notes his 11 wins in 16 starts lead all NHL goalies — while Yaroslav Askarov made 25 saves for San Jose.
Two teams heading opposite ways
The Wild are 12-3-3, winners of three straight and 6-0-1 in their last seven, and their 27 points lead the Western Conference. They are now 10-0-3 when scoring first, and the win also made Minnesota the fastest franchise in NHL history to 1,000 regular-season victories, reaching the mark in 1,995 games.
San Jose has lost four straight and sits at 7-10-1 — this one coming just two days after a players-only meeting that followed a 7-2 loss to the Kings. One caution for Minnesota: forward Michael McCarron left in the third period with an undisclosed injury and is questionable for Tuesday against Tampa Bay.