Kirill Kaprizov, Kevin Fiala set franchise bests, Wild beat Kraken 6-3
ST. PAUL, Minn. – Kirill Kaprizov had a goal and three assists to become the first player in Minnesota franchise history with at least 100 points in a season, and the Wild established four franchise records and tied another in beating Seattle 6-3 Friday night.
Joel Eriksson Ek had two goals and an assist, Mats Zuccarello, Ryan Hartman and Nick Deslauriers also scored, and Kevin Fiala had a team-record five assists for Minnesota, which also established all-time bests with its 50th win and 107 points.
Marc-Andre Fleury overcame an early gaffe and had 25 saves to improve to 7-1-0 since being acquired from Chicago at the trade deadline.
Daniel Sprong and Yanni Gourde scored early for Seattle, which saw its season-high three game-winning streak end. Philipp Grubauer finished with 29 saves.
Matty Beniers also scored for the Kraken to become the first rookie to begin his NHL career with points in five consecutive games since New Jersey’s Ty Smith Jan. 14-24, 2021.
Tying his career-high with four points, Kaprizov has 45 goals and 56 assists for the Wild, winners of four straight and 7-0-2 in their past nine games. Minnesota is 16-1-3 in its past 20 outings, outscoring opponents 77-48 while scoring at least three goals in 18 of those games.
The Wild are 12-0-1 in the past 13 home games, tying a team record for consecutive points. It went 10-0-3 from Dec. 27, 2017, to Feb. 13, 2018. Minnesota, which holds a two-point advantage over St. Louis for second place in the Central Division, is 29-6-2 at Xcel Energy Center. The teams are locked into a first-round playoff matchup.
Down 2-1 after one period, Fiala attracted three defenders before feeding Eriksson Ek for his second goal of the game early in the second.
Minnesota then scored four times in a 7:37 stretch.
Kaprizov redirected Fiala’s shot past Grubauer, and Hartman scored short side to make it 4-2. Fiala and Kaprizov got assists on Zuccarello’s goal before Deslauriers scored on his own rebound.
Fiala is on a four-game multi-point streak and has nine goals and 12 assists in a nine-game scoring stretch.
Matt Boldy had an assist to extend his official career-high point streak to eight games, surpassing Marian Gaborik’s rookie record of seven. Boldy has points in his last 10 games; however, he missed four games with an injury after the first two.
NOTES: Minnesota C Tyson Jost (lower body) returned after missing three games. … Seattle signed D Ryker Evans to a three-year, entry-level contract. The team’s second-round pick in the 2021 Draft, Evans had Western Hockey League career highs with 14 goals, 47 assists and 61 points this season.
Up next
Kraken: At Dallas on Saturday.
Wild: At Nashville on Sunday.