Kirill Kaprizov sure helps, but maturing Wild may have something special brewing

ST.

PAUL, Minn.

The Wild made headlines to start the season, going the first 391 minutes, 31 seconds of regulation before facing their first deficit the second-longest run in NHL history.

They entered Friday nights game against the Tampa Bay Lightning their first home game since Oct.

12 having trailed for a league-low 56:28 following a 5-1-1 road trip.

Advertisement But despite such a strong start to the year, its these past two games where you sense theyre maturing and believe they may have something special brewing.

Tuesday night in Pittsburgh, after not playing a home game in 17 days, the Wild fell into a quick 2-0 hole.

After being on the road that long, many teams would have one foot on the bus, another on the plane and would have allowed that two-goal deficit to balloon into four or five before getting out of Dodge.

Instead, the Wild stormed back and left Pittsburgh with two points.

Friday night against the Lightning, the Wild looked like they were going to succumb to your typical first home game after a long road trip blues.

They didnt have anything close to their A game in the first period, relied too much on their goaltender to save the day and gave up the first goal.

Then, even after rallying to take a one-goal lead early in the third period, the Wild gave up a tying power-play goal that a year ago would have almost surely led to a disappointing home loss.

This time, though, behind superstar Kirill Kaprizov s continued brilliance, the Wild responded with a 5-3 victory to open a three-game homestand by improving to 7-1-2.

Its resiliency, defenseman Jake Middleton said.

Weve been doing that since the start of training camp.

Were one of the hardest-working teams and one of the smartest-working teams, and when you have work ethic behind it and confidence, it doesnt matter what the score is.

Every team is going to have off nights, but what the Wild have shown is they have a foundation to rely on.

Even Friday, when they were turning too many pucks over and defending more than they wanted, it never felt like they were in danger of letting the game go off the rails.

Part of it was the fact Filip Gustavsson , coming off a rough six-goals-against outing in his last start, displayed immediately that it was a one-off.

Just like his first five starts when he allowed just seven goals, Gustavsson swallowed pucks, controlled his rebounds, challenged shooters and was calm under pressure.

That allowed the Wild to discover their game and immediately knot the score at 1-1 in the second period on Joel Eriksson Ek s fifth goal after Kaprizovs latest perfect pass.

this pass from Kaprizov to Eriksson Ek...

pic.twitter.com/KdIhhPaWVY Shayna (@hayyyshayyy) November 2, 2024 What it comes down to, coach John Hynes said, is a team that knows how it needs to play and thus can handle adversity during stressful junctures of games because its mentally tougher than last year.

Youre tested, and how are you going to respond to that test? he said.

I think tonight, you come off the road trip, Tampas coming in, they come strong but I thought that our goaltender was solid.

I thought our structure was solid.

We didnt really have our legs, but I thought we played ...

smart.

I thought we played structured.

We didnt give up a ton, although we got outshot and they won the territory battle in the first.

Advertisement But it wasnt like we were under major duress.

We just had to defend a little bit more than we wanted to.

And then I think in the second, we got our legs and then we got to the game we wanted to get to.

And thats whats going to happen over the course of 82 games.

Thats why I think the mindset, the mental toughness part of it, the structure, the attention to detail, those things matter a lot.

Thats when you have to rely on your habits, your structure, your mentality, and it may not always be where youre constantly on the attack, but you got to find ways to manage certain situations.

It helps that they have Kaprizov, who broke a 2-2 tie with 5:23 left and iced the game with an empty-netter for his third 3-point game in the past four and his seventh consecutive multipoint game.

He leads the NHL with 21 points in 10 games.

Kirill Kaprizov became the first player this season to reach the 20-point mark and just the fifth different since 2000-01 with 21 through his first 10 games of a campaign.

#NHLStats : https://t.co/mqPaQgF4s6 pic.twitter.com/EmB61gwTD6 NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) November 2, 2024 Were not used to league scoring leaders in these parts.

Brock Faber , who broke a 1-1 tie early in the third period with a short-side whistler, knows that.

Hey, Im from Minnesota, the Maple Grove native cracked.

You guys all see how good he is on the ice, how well hes playing.

Such a complete game, too.

He works his ass off day in, day out.

And then the player he is off the ice, thats the coolest part for me and I think the whole team.

Hes such a good teammate, hes such a good leader, such a good person.

And hes the best player in the league right now.

Actually, cut that out I dont want to jinx him.

But, no, he deserves it all.

Everything hes doing right now, hes been the leader of our team, no doubt.

Advertisement To Fabers point, its the complete game that makes Kaprizov so special.

To be fair, even though he finished plus-4, Fridays game wasnt one of Kaprizovs cleanest.

He sent more than his share of blind hope passes to the middle of the Lightning zone that were turned the other way for Tampa Bay transitions.

But when the Wild needed a big play down 1-0, he made it to Eriksson Ek.

And when the game was on the line after Jake Guentzel s tying goal, he scored the winner by driving the net.

KAPRIZOV CRASHES THE NET AND GIVES THE WILD A LATE LEAD That sets a franchise record of SEVEN straight multi-point games for Kirill pic.twitter.com/6SeSMqoykm B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) November 2, 2024 And when the Wild were defending an extra attacker with the Lightnings net empty, Hynes was comfortable putting Kaprizov on the ice.

Some stars in the league who cant be relied upon dont get that treatment, yet Kaprizov has now scored three empty net goals out of his seven.

Youre not just putting him out there because you want to get him an empty net goal, Hynes said.

Hes proven that hes committed to play both sides of the puck five-on-five, and hes been very good in those situations.

I think thats what makes him special.

We talk about a one-trick pony, hes not a one-trick pony.

Hes obviously a point guy and a highly talented offensive player, but his commitment to play for the team and his commitment to do the things necessary when he doesnt have the puck is whats really impressive to me.

You can tell Kaprizov is also starting to believe in what this teams got cooking.

It doesnt get any easier with Toronto and Los Angeles coming into town next before the Wild once again embark on a three-game road trip.

But as Kaprizov said: Its nice win, but I feel like we play not our hockey in first period.

Maybe it was because it was a long trip and something like that.

But I feel like second and third period we played better, and Gus huge saves and a couple blocked shots and we scored our goals.

Advertisement Far from perfect, yes.

A number of hiccups, sure, like losing the special teams battle.

But another solid win, thanks in large part to big goals, big saves and gutsy blocked shots from the likes of Marcus Johansson in the first period and Jonas Brodin over and over again in the third.

And thats all that matters from this maturing team.

As Faber called it, a very imperfect win but a more gritty win.

Were playing with a lot more confidence every night, expecting to win every night, Faber said.

Definitely could have been dropped (this game) last year.

But with the start weve had, weve been sticking together, I think.

Were on the right path.

(Photo: Nick Wosika / Imagn Images).

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