Healthy Kaprizov making big impact for Wild in 1st round against Golden Knights

LAS VEGAS -- Kirill Kaprizov is all the way back for the Minnesota Wild.

The forward has made spectacular plays in each of the first two games of the Western Conference First Round against the Vegas Golden Knights, including scoring two goals and getting an assist in a 5-2 win in Game 2 at T-Mobile Arena on Tuesday that evened the best-of-7 series.

Game 3 is at Xcel Energy Center on Thursday (FDSNNO, SCRIPPS, MAX, truTV, TBS, TVAS2, SN360).

The moments of brilliance are a testament to the work Kaprizov put in to come back from a lower-body injury that required surgery and cost him half the regular season.

“It’s just two games, guys,” he said after Game 2. “I don’t like to talk too much, especially when a series keeps going. Just keep playing.”

Though Kaprizov may not want to talk about his performance, others can’t stop doing it.

Matt Boldy, who plays on the Wild’s top line with Kaprizov and Joel Eriksson Ek, and had two goals in Game 1, the first set up by a sublime pass from Kaprizov, can’t stop raving about his teammate.

“I didn’t even see it until it hit my stick, so if that says anything about how special the pass was, it was obviously pretty special,” Boldy said after the 4-2 loss.

The pass that set up Boldy’s game-opening goal in Game 2 was a step beyond that.

Kaprizov collected a loose puck in his own end, looked up and threw a perfectly weighted lob pass to Boldy, who had split Vegas defensemen Shea Theodore and center Brett Howden. Boldy nestled the puck onto his blade, maintained the step he had on Theodore and Howden and calmly beat goalie Adin Hill to make it 1-0 at 9:56 of the first period.

“That might have been the best pass I’ve ever seen,” said Boldy. “I didn’t have to do much. He’s a special player. You see all the plays he makes, how hard he works. But for him to have the poise he had, to make that pass right on my tape, it was unbelievable.”

Not bad for a player who is known primarily for scoring goals.

“It doesn’t matter who scores the goals,” Kaprizov said with a grin.

Kaprizov was in the conversation for the Hart Trophy as the League MVP in the first few months of the season. On Dec. 23, he had 50 points (23 goals, 27 assists) in 34 games. But he sustained a lower-body injury and missed 12 games. He returned to the lineup on Jan. 23, then only played three games before the Wild announced on Jan. 28 he would have surgery. He came back on April 9 and played the final four regular-season games.

Eriksson Ek, who missed 36 games with a lower-body injury, came back on the same day, also playing the final four regular-season games to join forces with Kaprizov and Boldy and get ready for the postseason.

It’s been a success from the start.

“It doesn’t matter who you play with, you can play with everyone,” Kaprizov said. “ “‘Bolds’ and [Mats Zuccarello] can play together too. You just try to help the team.”

The instant chemistry and results have been a surprise to some. Not Boldy.

“[Kaprizov] and ‘Ekky,’ just the character they have and watching them go through what they went through, it’s tough when you are out for that long,” Boldy said. “You are showing up to the rink, doing treatment, working out, doing more treatment; it’s hard, mentally, physically, everything.

“To see those guys put in all that work, we had the expectation for those guys to come back and play unreal.”

Though his goals always make the highlight reels, Kaprizov is the player through which much of the Wild’s offense runs.

Before the injury, he was playing on a line with veteran Zuccarello and was setting him up on a regular basis, getting 20 assists in his first 16 games of the regular season.

“He never gave me those passes,” Zuccarello said after Game 2, tongue planted firmly in cheek. “That’s the Kirill we expect. We’ve seen this for many years.”

But it hasn’t been all passes in this series.

Kaprizov scored two goals Tuesday, one on the rush off a turnover by the Golden Knights in their end, his shot trickling past the goal line after splitting Hill’s leg pads to make it 4-0. His second was a 170-foot alley-oop from his own goal line into the empty net.

In two games, he has five points (two goals, three assists), and entered Wednesday tied with Mark Scheifele of the Winnipeg Jets for the postseason lead.

In 21 career playoff games, he has 12 goals, tied for second with Marian Gaborik on the Wild’s all-time postseason goals list. Zach Parise has 16.

Kaprizov became the first player in Wild history with three career multigoal playoff games and the third Wild player to start a postseason with consecutive multipoint games, joining John Klingberg (2023) and Eric Staal, who had a record four assists in the first two games in 2020.

“Kirill can create offense in multiple ways,” coach John Hynes said. “I think whether it’s the puck is on his stick to trigger the puck, [or] whether it’s his competitiveness in the hard areas of the game, in battle areas to score.

“Then when he has the opportunity to make a play, he can do it. That’s what makes him an elite player, the guys that can create offense and are willing to create offense and have the ability to do it multiple ways.”