Kirill Kaprizov scores in overtime to send NHL-best Wild past Canucks 3-2

Sarah McLellan, The Minnesota Star Tribune on Dec 3, 2024

Published in Hockey

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ST. PAUL, Minn. — If the Minnesota Wild were curious what it was like to play them on the road, the Vancouver Canucks showed them.

Led by strong goaltending, a reputable defense and timely scoring — sound familiar? — Vancouver is also one of the NHL’s most ungracious visitors and remained a handful on Tuesday night to almost spoil the Wild’s homestand finale.

Instead, the Wild overcame their doppelganger 3-2 in overtime at Xcel Energy Center and extend their win streak to four games, which matches their season high.

At 17-4-4 and with 38 points, the Wild held onto first place in the NHL.

Kirill Kaprizov split a 2-2 tie with 25 seconds to go in 3-on-3 action, burying a 2-on-1 pass from Marco Rossi after Brock Boeser hit the post. This was Kaprizov’s team-leading 16th goal, franchise-best ninth overtime game-winner and league-high 39th point.

Filip Gustavsson had 31 stops for the Wild, including two in overtime, while the Wild issued Canucks goalie Kevin Lankinen his first road loss of the season.

Lankinen, who made 27 saves, arrived 10-0 to set the NHL record for most road victories to start a season. He was one win shy of tying Evgeni Nabokov and Devan Dubnyk for the longest road winning streak in NHL history; Dubnyk had an 11-game road win streak when he was with the Wild in 2014-15.

Like the Wild tend to do when they’re the away team, the Canucks capitalized first, taking advantage of a power play on a Quinn Hughes shot through traffic set up by Elias Pettersson at 8:37 of the first period.

Vancouver finished 1 for 3, while the Wild’s power play blanked on its only opportunity.

Not until the second period did the Wild finally answer back on a Frederick Gaudreau goal off the rush at 7:56.

The goal was Gaudreau’s fifth, which matches his output from last season, and his 14 points are one more than he had. All that production has come in Gaudreau’s last 17 games.

But the Canucks exited the period ahead when Jake DeBrusk pounced on an Elias Pettersson rebound with 42 seconds left.

After an intermission to regroup, the Wild quickly reset on a shot from the middle by Jake Middleton just 1:43 into a third that remained hard-hitting and tight checking with both teams in lockstep until overtime.

This was only Vancouver’s third loss on the road at the end of a six-game trip; their 10 wins are tied with the Wild for second, with the Devils’ 11 leading the way.

Before the game, the Wild juggled their roster while dealing with the fallout of multiple injuries.

The team moved forward Jakub Lauko and defenseman Jonas Brodin to injured reserve and shifted Mats Zuccarello to long-term injured reserve.

Lauko, who’s sidelined with a lower-body injury, skated Tuesday morning and is the closest to returning. Brodin, out with an upper-body injury, was still seeing doctors and being evaluated.

Zuccarello went on long-term injured reserve to give the Wild enough salary-cap space to bring up Liam Ohgren from Iowa in the American Hockey League.

Although Ohgren didn’t draw in against the Canucks, the Wild might have needed him and didn’t have any other extra forwards available.

Jesper Wallstedt was also recalled but only as a paper move to give the team better flexibility while they have additional salary cap available due to Zuccarello’s designation on long-term injured reserve. Zuccarello, who hasn’t played since getting hit by a shot on Nov. 14, has begun doing light activity off the ice.

Next up for the Wild is a three-game road trip that starts Friday at Anaheim, Calif.

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