Wild’s Kirill Kaprizov’s big weekend leads to NHL’s top star of the week honor

For the second time this season, the Wild’s Kirill Kaprizov is the NHL’s first star of the week.

Kaprizov tied for the league lead in goals and points last week after scoring five times and picking up three assists for eight points in four games.

The winger was at his best over the weekend.

He factored in three of the Wild’s five power-play goals against Florida on Friday, which tied the franchise record, to help the team hold on for a 6-4 win. Kaprizov capitalized twice, the first time in his NHL career he scored multiple goals on the power play in the same game.

Then on Sunday, the 26-year-old posted his third regular-season NHL hat trick (fourth including the playoffs) in a 5-2 victory against Carolina that sealed a successful 2-1 road trip for the Wild.

Only Marian Gaborik (nine) has more hat tricks in Wild history; Kaprizov is tied with Zach Parise and Matt Boldy for the second most.

His three-goal game also moved him into a tie with Jason Zucker for the fourth-most goals in team history at 132. Parise is third with 199.

Overall, Kaprizov has 18 goals and 24 assists for a team-best 42 points through 39 games. He missed two weeks of action after suffering an upper-body injury Dec. 30 at Winnipeg. During his last 10 games played, Kaprizov has 10 goals and seven assists.

Earlier this month, he was picked for his third straight NHL All-Star Game, which is Feb. 3 in Toronto. Kaprizov was also selected as the NHL’s first star of the week in December after a four-goal, three-assist performance that included back-to-back overtime winners.