It would hardly be a game night in St. Paul without another superlative from Wild superstar Kirill Kaprizov.
Sunday’s milestone happened to be the game-winner, as his second period power play marker made Kaprizov the NHL’s first player to hit the 10-goal milestone this season. The end result was a 2-1 win over Columbus, improving the Wild to 4-0-0 at home this season.
Danila Yurov had his fourth goal of the season to open the scoring, and Minnesota goalie Jesper Wallstedt made 13 saves as the Wild improved to 6-2-1 overall.
Wallstedt, like most goalies, likes to face a few shots early to get into the game. Less than two minutes after the opening faceoff he got an early test and thwarted Conor Garland’s breakaway rush.
Then Garland and former Wild forward Charlie Coyle went to the penalty box eight seconds apart, giving Minnesota nearly two full minutes of 5-on-3 power play. They pelted Columbus goalie Cam Talbot with four shots during the man advantage but could not break through.
They took the first lead late in the first on a pretty passing play between Yakov Trenin and Yurov, for a tap-in by the latter. But the lead lasted just 60 seconds, with the Blue Jackets pulling even on a trickling puck between Wallstedt’s pads in the final minute of the period.
Minnesota got an early power play in the middle frame and got the lead back when Kaprizov ripped a rising shot over Talbot’s blocker. It was Kaprizov’s NHL-best 10th goal of the season, and his seventh in the past five games.
Perhaps the only downer of the night for Minnesota was the end of defenseman Quinn Hughes’ eight-game point streak to start the season.
Talbot finished with 32 saves for the Blue Jackets, who will host the Wild on Dec. 10. Minnesota next is off on its longest road trip of the season, with games in Edmonton, Calgary, Seattle, Vancouver and Utah starting Tuesday when they visit the Oilers.
Briefly
Earlier in the day on Sunday, the Wild recalled defenseman Carson Lambos and forward Hunter Haight from Iowa, and placed captain Jared Spurgeon on injured reserve. Spurgeon has missed the team’s past three games with an upper body injury, but would be eligible to play on Tuesday night in Edmonton, his hometown, if healthy.