Kirill Kaprizov had a goal with three assists to become the first Wild player to reach 100 points, and Kevin Fiala recorded a career- and franchise-high five assists, as Minnesota set club records for single-season wins and points with a 6-3 victory over the visiting Seattle Kraken on Friday night in Saint Paul, Minn.

Joel Eriksson Ek had two goals with an assist, while Ryan Hartmann, Mats Zuccarello and Nicolas Deslauriers also scored for the playoff-bound Wild (50-21-7, 107 points), who improved to 7-0-2 in their last nine.

In his second season, Kaprizov already set the franchise’s single-season point mark, but pushed his total to 101 as Minnesota scored five times through the first 14:29 of the second period.

Meanwhile, Fiala extended his point streak to eight games (nine goals, 12 assists) while becoming the eighth NHL player to register five assists this season. Minnesota also matched a club record by extending its home point streak to 13 games (12-0-1).

Daniel Sprong and Yanni Gourde scored the game’s first two goals for Seattle (26-45-6, 58 points), which came in riding the expansion club’s first three-game winning streak. The Kraken’s Matty Beniers scored his third goal, and has a point in his first five NHL contests.

The Kraken took advantage of an early Minnesota turnover, when netminder Marc-Andre Fleury (25 saves) attempted a poor clearing pass where the puck eventually found Sprong for the easy score at 6:16 into the game. Gourde then converted off a two-on-one with 9:40 to go in the first.

Minnesota halved its deficit with 3:59 remaining in the opening period when Eriksson Ek came through on the power play. Then just 2:04 into the second period, Eriksson Ek one-timed the puck by Seattle’s Philipp Grubauer (30 saves).

The Wild took the lead, again on the power play, when Fiala found Kaprizov for a tip-in at 6:52 into the second. Kaprizov’s 100th point came when he set up Hartman for his career-high 33rd at 10:22 into the second.

Less than two minutes later, Zuccarello posted Minnesota’s third power-play goal. Deslauriers put in a rebound of his own shot with 5:31 to play in the second.

With an assist, Matt Boldy set a Wild-rookie record by extending his point streak to eight games.

-Field Level Media

Tim Stutzle scored the lone goal in the shootout and the visiting Ottawa Senators rallied for a 2-1 win against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday.

Brady Tkachuk scored in regulation and Filip Gustavsson made 33 saves for the Senators (30-41-7, 67 points), who improved to 4-1-1 in their past six games. They have won consecutive games in shootouts, having topped the Vancouver Canucks 4-3 on Tuesday.

Jack Roslovic scored for the eighth time in his past six games for the Blue Jackets (35-36-7, 77 points), who have lost four straight (0-3-1). Elvis Merzlikins made 25 saves.

Roslovic gave the Blue Jackets a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal at 11:20 of the first period. With all of Ottawa’s penalty killers converged on the left side of the ice, Cole Sillinger sent a pass to an uncovered Roslovic in the low slot, and he connected for his 20th of the season.

The Senators came out with more jump in the second period after managing just four shots on goal in the opening frame. Tkachuk came close to tying it up when he tried a shot through his legs from the low slot. A few minutes later, the Senators had a pair of chances in front of the net followed by a point shot hitting the post.

Parker Kelly converted on a two-on-one off a feed from Dylan Gambrell following a Blue Jackets turnover at 10:02 of the second period to apparently get the Senators on the board, but Columbus challenged for offside. After video review, it was determined the play was offside and the goal was overturned.

Tkachuk finished off a tic-tac-toe play to tie it 1-1 at 7:06 of the third period. Josh Norris sent a cross-ice feed to Drake Batherson in the left circle, and Batherson quickly dished off to Tkachuk at the goal line by the right of the net.

In the shootout, Batherson shot over the net before Stutzle scored on his snap shot. The Blue Jackets’ Roslovic, Gustav Nyqvist and Jakub Voracek all had their attempts saved by Gustavsson.

–Field Level Media

The Vancouver Canucks are in Hail Mary territory with their playoff hopes.

Heading into Saturday’s road clash with the Calgary Flames, the Canucks (38-29-11, 87 points) sit four points behind the Dallas Stars for the second Western Conference wild-card spot, with the 89-point Vegas Golden Knights between them.

Not only must the Canucks run the table in their final four games, starting with the Pacific Division-champion Flames (48-20-10, 106 points), but they also require all kinds of help.

“They never quit. They never die,” Canucks coach Bruce Boudreau said. “Obviously (Thursday’s loss) was very disappointing at the end, but the fact that they could have given up a long time ago — the odds were so against us — but they believed, and they still believe. They’ll believe again (Saturday). Until it shows that we’re eliminated, I’m sure these guys are going to keep pushing right to the end.”

It’s likely their fate truly was sealed by a 6-14-2 start to the season, but the Canucks pushed to the point that they had a chance after beating the Stars on Monday to give them a six-game winning streak. Vancouver boasts three 30-goal scorers for the first time since 1995-96 and Elias Pettersson scored 13 goals in the last dozen games.

However, the club has dropped consecutive games, the latest defeat Thursday’s crushing 6-3 loss to the Minnesota Wild, a game in which they held a 3-2 lead with less than two minutes remaining in the second period.

“We understand what that (loss) means,” forward Conor Garland said. “Tough to be tied against probably one of the top two, three teams in the Western Conference in the third period, and we just couldn’t find a way to get it done.”

The Flames, who are on an 8-1-1 tear, officially clinched their first division title since 2019 with Thursday’s 4-2 victory over Dallas.

It’s been a banner season in Calgary, and not only with the divisional crown. The Flames have a pair of 100-point players (Johnny Gaudreau and Matthew Tkachuk) for the first time since the 1990-91 campaign and four different 35-plus goal scorers for the first time since 1993-94 (Tkachuk, Gaudreau, Elias Lindholm and Andrew Mangiapane). The last team to reach that feat was the 1995-96 Pittsburgh Penguins.

“This team’s had a hell of a season when you look at it,” coach Darryl Sutter said. “There’s no way around it. Clinch (a playoff spot) with two weeks left and clinch a title with four games left — that’s a hell of a regular season.”

However, all that won’t mean much if the Flames suffer a fate as bad as 2019, when they claimed the Western Conference regular-season title but were eliminated in the first round in five games by the Colorado Avalanche.

“It is a huge accomplishment, but we still have the toughest part and that’s ultimately to win the Stanley Cup,” defenseman Rasmus Andersson said. “It’s going to be tough, it’s going to be challenging and it’s going to be fun, but we have these four games left and have to keep playing good hockey. The mindset is we have to treat these four games that they really matter and have a good feeling going into the playoffs.”

With the goal to use these clashes as preparation for a potential playoff run, don’t expect Sutter to completely put away the whip.

“You want them sharp. The worst thing is giving guys too much time off,” he said.

–Field Level Media