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