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Kirill Kaprizov breaks franchise record as Wild beat Hurricanes

dane mizutani, pioneer press
·3 min read

RALEIGH, N.C. — Though he’s only played 121 games in the NHL to this point, Kirill Kaprizov is already a bonafide superstar, and might be the best player the Wild have ever had.

Despite the massive fan fare, Zach Parise and Ryan Suter never made the type of impact that Kaprizov does on a nightly basis. Same goes for Mikko Koivu. Frankly, Marian Gaborik is the only player in the same stratosphere, and his list of franchise records appear to be no match for Kaprizov.

The 24-year-old Kaprizov surpassed Gaborik’s longstanding rookie marks last season, and on Saturday night against the Carolina Hurricanes, he continued that trend by setting a new single-season franchise record for points.

With a goal and an assist in the game, Kaprizov stretched his total to 85 points (39 goals, 46 assists), passing Gaborik in the process.

“It’s a huge accomplishment for me,” Kaprizov said through a translator. “I’d like to thank all my teammates, all the coaching staff, everyone in the organization that made it possible.”

The play that gave Kaprizov the franchise record was rather innocuous considering some of his spectacular passes this season. After collecting a loose puck on the power play, Kaprizov funneled a pass to best bud Mats Zuccarello, who promptly ripped a shot into the back of the net.

“He decided to take all the responsibility onto himself for that one,” Kaprizov said. “I gave him a pretty innocent pass and he did the rest. I didn’t really have to do much. Thanks to him.”

In a funny moment that showed their close-knit relationship, Zuccarello joked that it was nice to score a goal for a change.

“He would have gotten (the franchise record) earlier if I could score a little bit more often,” Zuccarello said. “It’s fun for him. It’s fun for all of us. He’s a special player like we all know.”

That served as the ice breaker for the Wild on their way to a 3-1 win over the Hurricanes.

While the night belonged to Kaprizov the moment he passed Gaborik, it was a very impressive effort from goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury. He was unflappable in the contest, making his presence felt with 37 saves, including a few worthy of a spot on SportsCenter’s Top 10.

“Like I said when I came in, I wanted to make a good first impression,” Fleury said. “Obviously it’s a team game. I don’t win by myself back there. The guys have been playing great in front of me.”

After slowly closing in on the franchise record for the past couple of weeks, Kaprizov got it out of the way midway through the first period, assisting on Zuccarello’s goal that made it 1-0.

It’s fitting that Zuccarello was involved in Kaprizov’s milestone moment. The dynamic duo has been a godsend for the Wild over the past couple of seasons, making highlight-reel plays to each other seemingly on a nightly basis.

With the Wild tightening up in the second period, Dmitry Kulikov provided some breathing room, unleashing a snipe stretch the lead to 2-0.

That score held into the third period where Kaprizov added a goal to make it 3-0. Though the Hurricanes spoiled Fleury’s shutout bid with a goal to make it 3-1, the night still ended on a high note for the Wild.

Now that Kaprizov has set a new single-season franchise record for points, he can take aim at Gaborik’s single-season franchise record for goals (42), which he shares with Eric Staal, and Pierre-Marc Bouchard’s single-season record for assists (50).

It’s only a matter of time before Kaprizov chases those down.

“Maybe,” Kaprizov said. “We’ll see.”

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