RALEIGH, N.C. – The highest scoring season by a Wild player is now officially in progress, and there's still 15 games to go.
Kirill Kaprizov broke Marian Gaborik's nearly 14-year record on Saturday, picking up a goal and assist to reach a franchise-high 85 points in a 3-1 victory against the Hurricanes in front of 16,375 at PNC Arena that kicked off a lengthy road trip with the Wild's eighth win during a nine-game point streak.
"It's a huge accomplishment for me," Kaprizov said in Russian through a translator. "I'd like to thank all my teammates, all the coaching staff, everyone in the organization that made it possible."
Kaprizov's record-breaking point was an assist, a pass he fittingly sent to linemate Mats Zuccarello to open the scoring on the power play 10 minutes, 20 seconds into the first period.
"I gave him a pretty innocent pass, and he did the rest," Kaprizov said. "I didn't really have to do much. So, thanks to him, and of course it was special."
Later, Kaprizov scored his 39th goal 7:24 into the third period when he one-timed a handoff from — who else? — Zuccarello.
"Everybody sees the chemistry," coach Dean Evason said.
Before Kaprizov surpassed him, Gaborik led the way with 83 points through 77 games in 2007-08 and Kaprizov is on track to make more revisions to the Wild record book in only his second NHL season.