Wild stun Bruins 4-3 in OT; Kirill Kaprizov scores game-winner, Marc-Andre Fleury stands out in goal

BOSTON – Kirill Kaprizov wasn't invisible.

He'd been making plays and creating chances around the net, looks that occasionally led to offense for him or someone else.

But two months into the schedule, he had yet to have a quintessential takeover where he's an unstoppable force like the one who's already eclipsed 100 points and twice hit 40 goals in three-plus seasons with the Wild.

On Tuesday night at TD Garden, Kaprizov finally played like Kaprizov.

And like his release on the last shot of the game, his timing couldn't have been better.

With the Wild missing three of their best players and coming off a botched comeback 24 hours earlier, Kaprizov scored twice including in overtime to polish off a gutsy 4-3 win over the Bruins that sent the team home from its two-game road trip with a hard-fought split.

"When puck don't go in the net, you can say, 'Oh, it's like bad game,'" Kaprizov said. "Sometimes you have a lot of chances, and you don't score. Now, I score in best-on-best."

Kaprizov one-upped a pair of goals by Boston's David Pastrnak and a late equalizer from Brad Marchand when he obliterated a Joel Eriksson Ek pass off a 3-on-1 rush, his one-timer flying into the Bruins net with 2 minutes, 6 seconds left in overtime.

This was Kaprizov's franchise-record seventh overtime goal and his first two-goal game of the season after a six-game dry spell. He has 10 goals and 27 points overall in 30 games.

"I'm really happy for him," coach John Hynes said. "Sometimes when elite players or guys that are point-producers don't get what they can get rewarded for, sometimes their game falters. I feel like he just stayed with it, continued to compete and play the right way, and tonight he was a huge difference-maker for us."

But Kaprizov wasn't the only one.

Marc-Andre Fleury's 997th game in the NHL was also his best of the season, the goalie turning aside 40 shots to pick up his fifth win and No.549 in his career to move three away from passing Patrick Roy for the second-most victories all-time.

"Hall of Fame performance," Hartman said.

Fleury made a split save, slid through the crease in time to keep out a Wild turnover and faced a Michigan attempt by Boston's Jakub Lauko.

And that was just the first period.

"He was an inspiration to the guys," Hynes said. "Guys on the bench were really excited for him. The way he played, he brought energy to the team, and guys continued to compete."

Marcus Johansson snapped a six-game drought for the power play in its only look of the night with his first goal in 25 games and second this season at 7:44 of the first period, but the Wild couldn't protect that lead.

Pastrnak wired a 2-on-1 pass by Fleury at 11:29 and then with 0.8 seconds left on the clock, Pastrnak was left all alone to capitalize again.

Kaprizov finally expunged that 2-1 deficit 13:12 into the third when he pounced on a deflected puck.

Only 1:58 later, Hartman served up his second goal in as many games when he converted on a loose puck against goalie Linus Ullmark (26 saves) in front to reward the Wild's perseverance.

Not only were they finishing off a back-to-back after losing the night before at Pittsburgh, but they were playing without their top two defenders in Jonas Brodin and Jared Spurgeon and their leading scorer in Mats Zuccarello; all three are injured, with Zuccarello the latest to get sidelined. He's week-to-week with an upper-body injury, a prognosis the team received after Zuccarello was evaluated Tuesday morning.

"It's always tough losing leaders," Kaprizov said through an interpreter. "It's our job to continue to play and continue to try to do our best without them."

That they did, albeit after Marchand wired in a puck with 1:06 to go in the third period on a Boston power play (1-for-3) amid a prolonged and hectic scramble in front of Fleury.

"I didn't want to risk getting up, and then they poke it under me," Fleury recalled. "So, I just tried to cover the ice, and hopefully we get a stick on it. But they got it."

The point Boston snagged extended its lead atop its division, but the result — and the process to get there — will likely mean more to the Wild in the long run.

"To get a win against them is unbelievable," Kaprizov said, "and we're going to continue the momentum."