CALGARY, ALBERTA — Kirill Kaprizov has two more Wild records to add to his stash.
Wild's Kirill Kaprizov extends or sets club records for goal-scoring and point streaks
The winger scored in his seventh consecutive game and earned a point in his 13th.
December 8, 2022 at 6:12AM
With his first-period goal against the Flames on Wednesday at Scotiabank Saddledome, the winger extended his point streak to a franchise-best 13 games while also scoring in a team-high seven consecutive contests.
Already this season, Kaprizov had posted the best assist streak at nine games from Nov. 11 to Dec. 1. He is the only player among all 32 NHL teams to hold the franchise record (outright or tied) for all three scoring milestones (goal, assist and point streaks).
The record-breaking play occurred 1 minute, 27 seconds after the opening faceoff off a stick-shattering deflection on a Matt Dumba shot for Kaprizov's 17th goal and 20th point during his point streak. Kaprizov was tied with Mikael Granlund (2016-17) and Kevin Fiala (2021-22) for the Wild's point streak record; Brian Rolston (2007-08) and Nino Niederreiter (2017-18) had six-game goal streaks and so did Kaprizov last season.
Not only is Kaprizov's seven-game goal tear the longest by any NHL player this season, surpassing six-game runs by Dallas' Jason Robertson and Tampa Bay's Nikita Kucherov, but he's the first player to set a franchise-record goal streak of at least five games in his first three NHL seasons since Vancouver's Pavel Bure in 1993-94.
As for Kaprizov's point streak, that's the third-best in the NHL this season.
Robertson had an 18-game blitz end on Tuesday, and Toronto's Mitch Marner is on a 20-game surge.
Shorthanded success
The Wild are among the most effective in the NHL at keeping the puck out of the net when on the penalty kill, and they're the best at scoring shorthanded.
Connor Dewar's breakaway goal at Dallas was the Wild's league-leading fifth while on the penalty kill and Dewar's second this season. His three shorthanded points overall are tied for tops in the NHL.
"Anytime in hockey you get a scoring chance," Dewar said, "your eyes light up."
Five shorthanded tallies are the most the Wild have had through 24 games into a season since 2017-18, but they have a way to go to match the franchise record for a season; that was set in 2000-01 when the inaugural squad racked up a whopping 13.
What's igniting the Wild, in producing offense and thwarting the opposition's power play, is their aggressiveness.
"That leads to some more opportunities, some more breakdowns," coach Dean Evason said. "When you are working and skating like we are, you get some opportunities. Obviously, Dewey's had breakaway after breakaway.
"Yeah, are we excited about having opportunities on the penalty kill? Sure. But we're excited about getting the puck all the way down the ice."
No changes
For the fourth consecutive game, the Wild kept their forward lines and defensive pairs the same.
This consistency has been rare, because of injury and the team's early-season struggles. But with the group picking up its play lately, despite key players still hurt, the Wild haven't made any changes in front of their crease.
"It's nice to not mess around with it," Evason said. "There's probably some coaches out there that like to tinker. It's nice to just leave it. As players, you want to find that chemistry. You want to have familiarity as far as where they are in different situations and communication and all of that.
"So, yeah, we're real happy that we've been able to leave the four lines and literally the six 'D' alone."
Edmonton’s Leon Draisaitl showed his MVP qualifications with a goal and three assists.
