RALEIGH, N.C. – Kirill Kaprizov drained an empty-net goal from 161 feet to polish off a hat trick and deny the Hurricanes’ last-ditch rally.
Wild put away Hurricanes 5-2 behind Kirill Kaprizov’s hat trick
Kirill Kaprizov sealed his hat trick with a rink-length empty net goal. But he was happier to talk about a solid defensive move he made late in the game.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
January 22, 2024 at 12:27PM
But the Wild superstar was prouder of the Brent Burns shot he blocked seconds earlier when the team was still protecting a one-goal lead.
“The bench was so happy when I do this blocked shot,” Kaprizov said with a laugh.
Five games into his return from a nearly two-week injury hiatus, Kaprizov was back to being Kaprizov, and he brought his defensive acumen with him.
His three goals, after scoring twice two nights earlier, headlined a 5-2 less-is-more masterclass by the Wild on Sunday at PNC Arena, but so did his play without the puck.
“It just shows the way he competes, scores goals and does it all,” forward Joel Eriksson Ek said. “It’s great to see when your best player plays like that.”
This was the third hat trick of Kaprizov’s NHL career, fourth when factoring in the playoffs, to tie Zach Parise and Matt Boldy for the second-most in Wild history.
He also pulled even with Jason Zucker for the fourth-most goals at 132, and the timing of the performance was clutch.
Ahead 2-1 in the third period, the Wild lost the lead on a Michael Bunting shot at 8 minutes, 17 seconds but regained it only 1:15 later when Eriksson Ek poked in his own rebound after the puck rolled behind Carolina goalie Anttti Raanta.
“I was happy that that puck squeezed through,” said Eriksson Ek, who is one goal shy of his third straight 20-goal campaign. After picking up three points, he has eight during a four-game point streak.
With time winding down, the Hurricanes pulled Raanta to gain an extra attacker.
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Cue Kaprizov.
After his shot block, Brock Faber (who extended his point streak to a career-high four games that tied the franchise record for a rookie defenseman) got in front of another Burns attempt and Kaprizov whacked the carom down the ice to alleviate Carolina’s pressure with 2:01 to go, before Jake Middleton added another empty-netter with 56 seconds left.
“I try to do my best,” Kaprizov said. “Doesn’t matter who’s on the ice, can play 5-on-6 and get blocked shots and play like we need to play.”
Big-picture, the Wild have won back-to-back games for the first time since they had a four-game streak Dec. 19-27, and Kaprizov has five goals in those victories.
“I feel OK,” he said. “Pretty good, yeah.”
Over his last 10 games played, the winger is up to 17 points. His 18 goals this season trail only Eriksson Ek’s 19.
“He’s a scoring guy, an offensive threat,” coach John Hynes said. “But when you’re called upon to manage a puck or block a shot or defending in a certain situation, when you do that, that’s what the game requires and that was really good to see.”
Despite getting outshot 18-3, the Wild were tied with the Hurricanes after one period.
Martin Necas sent a scorcher by Wild goalie Filip Gustavsson 14:02 into the first, but the Wild retaliated when Kaprizov tipped in an Alex Goligoski shot with 2:17 remaining.
The Hurricanes continued to dominate the puck, at one point outshooting the Wild by a 3-1 margin in the second, but the Wild executed the quality-over-quantity strategy to a tee.
Kaprizov wired a puck around an Eriksson Ek screen at 6:18 to give the Wild two goals on six shots.
“It’s always tough to outshoot this team,” Marcus Foligno said. “You’re not going to. That’s how they play. It’s about the little details, and I thought we did a really good job.”
The 19 shots the Wild finished with were their lowest this season, Raanta’s 14 stops a fraction of the action Gustavsson faced; his 40 saves were his third-most this season.
And yet this felt like a step in the right direction for the Wild (0-for-2 on the power play but 4-for-4 on the penalty kill), who held on for a frenzied 6-4 win Friday at Florida after the trip began with a 7-3 dud at Tampa Bay.
“It’s nice to see us respond and get four points out of six,” Foligno said. “It’s positive going home, which is nice for us.”
Alex Ovechkin has a broken left fibula and is expected to be out four to six weeks, an injury that pauses the Washington Capitals superstar captain’s pursuit of Wayne Gretzky’s NHL career goals record.
