Kaprizov energizes Wild again with 2 more goals in Game 3 victory

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Kirill Kaprizov put the State of Hockey into a state on Thursday, dominating Game 3 as the primary force in a 5-2 victory against the Vegas Golden Knights.

Kaprizov had two goals for the second straight game. After the first game, another 5-2 victory on Tuesday, the Russian forward said he couldn’t wait to bring the fun to the Xcel Energy Center for the first time in this Western Conference First Round.

Mission accomplished.

There was a raucous party all night, raging from warmups until well after the home team walked away with a narrative-changing victory which puts the Wild in the driver’s seat of this best-of-7 series against the heavily favored Golden Knights.

“It always feels good when you win games,” Kaprizov said. “We don’t care who scored, who has how many points or whatever. You just want to win games.”

The Wild have won the past two games in convincing fashion to lead the series and be in a position from which 68.8 percent of the teams (386-175) holding it have advanced all-time in seven-game series.

Game 4 is here Saturday (4 p.m. ET; FDSNNO, SCRIPPS, MAX, truTV, TBS, SNP, SNW, SN1, TVAS).

Kaprizov opened the scoring at 3:13 of the first period, scoring the first of two power-play goals in the game.

He took a pass from rookie defenseman Zeev Buium, did a lap around the offensive zone without being touched and let loose with a seeing-eye shot that found its way past goalie Adin Hill. Then he skated to the glass, into a towel-waving frenzy, moving his arms in a how-do-you-like-me-now gesture.

“He’s such an energy giver,” said goalie Filip Gustavsson, who made 30 saves. “Just his skill plays, his dangles, or anything like that, finding passes that people don’t see. It’s building from the bench and out on the ice there, just everyone feels more energy to try going and going.”

Gustavsson said, at times, the building was so loud that he could not hear his defensemen trying to give directions around the net.

It was Kaprizov’s third goal in as many periods after he had two in in Game 2.

He wasn’t done.

With the clock running out in the second period and the Wild enjoying another power play, Kaprizov went to the net and was tied up by defenseman Noah Hanifin.

No matter.

Ryan Hartman wristed a shot from the right boards and it hit Kaprizov at the far post and trickled over the goal line for a three-goal lead that proved insurmountable.

That goal, said coach John Hynes, is why Kaprizov is so beloved by teammates and by the fans, who were fawning over him throughout the game.

“He loves to compete,” Hynes said. “I think the more intense the game, I would say the better that he plays. He loves the game, but he loves to compete and that's what you saw tonight. And you've seen that throughout the series.”

Said defenseman Brock Faber: “When he's playing the way he is, he's one of, if not the hardest player to play against, for defensemen in the League. He’s such a special, dynamic player who works so hard and is a great teammate. He’s a guy we’re so grateful to have, especially in a series like this.’’

Kaprizov has seven points (four goals, three assists), but he again had help in raising a ruckus from linemate Matt Boldy, who scored for the third straight game at the 11:05 mark of the second period to make it 3-1. Boldy has six points (four goals, two assists) in three games.

Boldy and Kaprizov are the second and third players in Wild history to record multiple points in three straight games, joining Marian Gaborik (2003).

It’s Kaprizov’s fourth career multigoal postseason game and second in as many games. The last time a player recorded consecutive multigoal postseason games was during the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs, when three players did it.

“I mean, I think how hard they work is really setting the standard for the whole team,” Joel Eriksson Ek, the center on the line, said. “Probably the two hardest working guys every night.”

It wasn’t supposed to play out this way.

Kaprizov missed half the season with a lower-body injury and Eriksson Ek missed 36 games. Each returned with four games remaining in the regular season and had to find his game.

Seven games and a few practices later, they are part of the best line in the playoffs.

They are skating laps around the vaunted top line from Vegas: Ivan Barbashev, Jack Eichel and Mark Stone.

That’s a trio that is playoff tested, battle hardened. Eichel had a career-high 94 points this regular season, the eighth-highest total in the League. He was in the conversation for MVP. Stone is considered one of the best 200-foot players in the game. They won the Stanley Cup two seasons ago.

In this series, it’s a trio that has zero points, a trio that has had precious few chances, a trio that is becoming increasingly frustrated.

While the frustration grows on one side, the confidence grows on the other.

“Well, hockey is fun when the team is winning,” Gustavsson said.

It certainly was at Xcel Energy Center on Thursday.