Kaprizov breathes a sigh of relief

ST. PAUL, Minn. --- Kirill Kaprizov took the ice with Joel Eriksson Ek and defenseman Quinn Hughes to start the overtime period Thursday. In the first minute, the Detroit Red Wings had a scoring chance, and Kaprizov was taken down behind the Wild net. 

No penalty on the play, and Kaprizov seemed to take that personally. If you go by what happened in the next few seconds anyway.

Hughes took the puck up the ice, reached the Red Wings blue line and dropped the puck back to Kaprizov, who wasted no time turning on the jets into the zone and blasting his shot from the high slot for his 13th career overtime winner.

“It was nice play there, and just give me speed and I just have [a] chance for the shot and try [to] shoot and it go in,” Kaprizov said. 

The goal, only 45 seconds into overtime, was his second of the night as the Wild defeated the Red Wings, 4-3, on a frigid night at Grand Casino Arena. It was the Wild’s first home win in January after a winless three-game homestand last week. 

The Wild never led in the game, coming back three times from one-goal deficits. It started with a sigh of relief for Kaprizov, who despite having seven assists in the past three games hadn’t scored a goal in the last five. 

After Lucas Raymond gave Detroit an early 1-0 lead on the power play, to the delight of many vocal Red Wings fans in attendance, the Wild answered on their first-period power play before the intermission. Mats Zuccarello fed Kaprizov in the circle, and Kaprizov shot the puck toward former-Wild goaltender Cam Talbot to tie the game. 

As the goal horn sounded and Wild fans cheered, Kaprizov didn’t raise his arms in celebration. Instead, he briefly bent down toward the ice, signifying his relief with finally cashing in for a goal, his 26th of the season. 

Kaprizov said he tried not to think about his goal drought, if one can call it that after only five goalless games. 

“But it’s always sometimes in your head,” Kaprizov said. “But it’s nice to win tonight and score.” 
Kaprizov’s two goals have tied him for the team lead with Matt Boldy at 27 apiece. Kaprizov is just too good, Hughes said, to be kept out of the goal column for too long. 

“Things are going to fall for him,” Hughes said. “I mean, he’s been on the scoresheet a lot. But I know it’s on his mind to score.” 

Kaprizov, Zuccarello and Hughes each had three-point nights, the first one of the season for Zuccarello, who scored two goals sandwiched between Kaprizov. There’s a peanut butter-and-jelly reference in there somewhere. 

A bit of a tough-luck play for the Wild resulted in Raymond’s second goal of the game late in the second period for the 2-1 Red Wings lead. But the Wild had the response early in the third.
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Zuccarello grabbed the puck off a rebound that Talbot didn’t secure to tie the game only 37 seconds into the third period. About five minutes later, Detroit took its third lead on a backdoor tip from James Van Riemsdyk. 

But only 35 seconds later, Zuccarello answered again for his eighth goal of the season with assists from Ryan Hartman and Kaprizov. Their line had seven points in the game. Hughes had his fourth three-assist night in a Wild sweater. 

The Wild made it to overtime, and Kaprizov put the exclamation point on the evening, which included a game-high eight shots for him. 
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“I think he’s had so many looks, and it’s nice to see him get rewarded,” said Wild coach John Hynes. “He probably could have had four tonight, I think he had two crossbars and had multiple looks. So, it’s nice that he was able to convert.” 

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