Kaprizov's League-Leading 10th Goal Carries Wild Past Blue Jackets 2-1
Kirill Kaprizov broke a 1-1 tie on the power play and Minnesota smothered Columbus, allowing just 14 shots in a fourth straight home win.
Nine games into the season, Kirill Kaprizov has 10 goals — and on Sunday in St. Paul, the latest one was the difference. Kaprizov's power-play strike at 3:06 of the second period stood up as the winner in a 2-1 Wild victory over the Blue Jackets, a game Minnesota controlled so thoroughly that Columbus managed just 14 shots on goal, tied for the second-fewest the Wild have ever allowed, per NHL.com.
Ninety seconds of chaos, then control
All the first-period scoring came in a late flurry. Danila Yurov finished an odd-man rush at 18:12 — his fourth goal in nine games, from Yakov Trenin — and exactly a minute later Adam Fantilli answered for Columbus, firing from the left circle with the Blue Jackets skating 6-on-5 on a delayed penalty. From there the game tilted one way. Kaprizov beat Cam Talbot short side from a sharp angle early in the second, and Jesper Wallstedt made it hold up with a quiet 13-save night for his sixth win. Talbot was excellent in defeat with 32 saves. "I think I gave him a little bit too much," Talbot said of the winner, per NHL.com.
Kaprizov's historic pace
The numbers are stacking up fast. NHL.com notes Kaprizov is the fastest player to 10 goals in Wild history, beating Brian Rolston's 12-game mark, and he's riding a six-game point streak with 7 goals and 5 assists in that span. Joel Eriksson Ek picked up the 200th assist of his career on the winning goal.
What it means for both sides
Minnesota is 6-2-1, unbeaten at home through four games and atop the Central, with a power play clicking at 32.1% — second in the NHL — per the AP. Columbus falls to 3-4-0 and has dropped three of four, and the shot count is the worry: one goal on 14 attempts on net won't win many nights, whoever is in the Wild crease.