Fans rose from their seats and as their applause echoed throughout Xcel Energy Center, its recipient was sitting on the Wild bench with a grin plastered across his face.
Kirill Kaprizov reaches 101 points as Wild uses five-goal second period to beat Seattle
Kevin Fiala's five assists set a new Wild franchise record on a night Kirill Kaprizov continued his eye-popping second NHL season
April 23, 2022 at 5:02AM
Kirill Kaprizov had just become the Wild's first 100-point player and only the seventh NHLer this season to hit triple digits.
"A huge thank you to the fans, my teammates, the organization," Kaprizov said in Russian through a translator. "Obviously, it's a huge accomplishment. I'm extremely thankful and happy."
But that wasn't all the Wild celebrated.
Kevin Fiala set a single-game Wild record with five assists, including a franchise-high four in a period, during a 6-3 blitz of the expansion Kraken on Friday in front of an announced 19,047 that lifted the Wild to the most victories (50) and points (107) in team history.
This was also the Wild's NHL-leading ninth multi-goal rally, which is also a franchise record, and the team now has a two-point lead over the No. 3 Blues in the battle for second place in the Central Division and home-ice advantage in these rivals' looming first-round playoff matchup. Both have four games left in the regular season.
But wait, there's more.
The Wild picked up its seventh victory during a nine-game point streak while extending its point streak at home to 13 games (12-0-1) to tie the franchise record. Since March 16, no one in the league has more wins than the Wild (16-1-3).
And Kaprizov?
He actually finished the night with 101 points, racking up four to match his career high for a game.
Aside from scoring his 45th goal, he had three assists and currently boasts the most by a Wild player in a season at 56 — one more than his linemate Mats Zuccarello, who left the game because of a lower-body injury that will sideline him for Sunday's game at Nashville.
"Obviously, getting the team win was super important," Kaprizov said, "and made everything that much more sweet."
Believe it or not, the Wild stumbled early against Seattle, which built a two-goal head start in the first period on goals from Daniel Sprong (6 minutes, 16 seconds) and Yanni Gourde (10:20).
But the Wild dominated after that.
Tic-tac-toe passing between Fiala and Kaprizov led to Joel Eriksson Ek capitalizing on the power play at 16:01, the appetizer to a five-goal buffet in the second.
Eriksson Ek had the next goal, too, at 2:04 when he buried a Fiala pass. Matt Boldy also assisted on the play, extending his career-high point streak to eight to surpass Marian Gaborik for the longest point streak by a Wild rookie. Boldy's 37 points are also the second most for a Wild rookie.
Back on the power play, Kaprizov tipped in a Fiala shot at 6:52 and Eriksson Ek's assist was his third point to match his career high.
Then at 10:22, Ryan Hartman used a Kaprizov pass to notch his 33rd goal.
That point lifted Kaprizov to 100, but he didn't stay there for long.
"I want to continue to keep this momentum going, continue to progress and get better," Kaprizov said.
Another power play goal by the Wild, this one from Zuccarello at 12:03 off Fiala and Kaprizov assists, brought the 24-year-old winger to 101 points.
"I figured he really wanted to reach that number, and it's really impressive to do so," Eriksson Ek said. "He's just a dynamic player and can do everything. It's really fun to see and really good for our team."
Fiala supplied the encore, registering his fifth assist after Nic Deslauriers buried his own rebound at 14:29, and Fiala's four points in a period is also a team record.
"Everything I touched, it went in, I felt like," Fiala said.
During his nine-game point streak, Fiala has nine goals and a jaw-dropping 21 points. The winger's 82 points are second on the team and third in Wild history for a season, behind only Kaprizov and Gaborik (83).
The evening was also a boon for the power play, which went 3-for-5. Seattle was 1-for-2, with that goal coming 5:16 into the third period off the stick of Matty Beniers. Marc-Andre Fleury totaled 25 saves while improving to 7-1 with the Wild, and Philipp Grubauer had 29 stops for the Kraken.
As for Kaprizov and what could be next for him, "Just play," he said in English. "Fun."
The star forward came back from a brief injury absence, and two goals from Frederick Gaudreau helped Minnesota to another road victory.
