Kirill Kaprizov had a goal and two assists to lead the Minnesota Wild to its 11th win in its last 14 games, posting a 4-2 win over the Ottawa Senators Sunday afternoon in St. Paul.
Kaprizov scored his 19th goal of the season midway through the first period and later had the secondary assist on Mats Zuccarello’s goal and the primary assist on Jared Spurgeon’s goal. Minnesota led 3-2 before Freddy Gaudreau’s empty-netter put the Senators down for good.
“For the most part we played really well,” head coach Dean Evason said. “We got off to a little bit of a shaky start the first five minutes but after that we rolled through the first and second period and we liked a lot of the stuff we did today.”
Kaprizov became the fourth-fastest player to reach 200 career points since 2000-01.
- Sidney Crosby (142 games)
- Alex Ovechkin (145 games)
- Evgeni Malkin (166 games)
- Kirill Kaprizov (167 games)
One month ago, after a loss on Nov. 17, the Wild was 7-8-2. They’re now 18-11-2, riding a five-game win streak and winners in 10 of 13 games. With 38 points, they’re just three points behind second place Winnipeg and four points behind first place Dallas in the Central Division.
The surge has ben fueled by much better play at home. The Wild started the season 2-5-1 on home ice but is now 11-6-1 at the Xcel Energy Center.
“Our team wasn’t as good as we are right now,” Evason said when asked about the improved play in St. Paul. “Home or road we weren’t very good at the start, but certainly this crowd, the energy that they are giving us, and again it’s exciting to play here and it’s nice to play well in front of them and obviously give them some wins.”
Up next: Wild at Anaheim Ducks, Wednesday at 9 p.m. Central Time
