Wild vs. Mammoth: Kirill Kaprizov's NHL-Leading 14th Goal Powers Minnesota's Third Straight Win

Kirill Kaprizov is treating October like a highlight reel with no skip button. Forty-eight seconds into the third period in Salt Lake City, with Minnesota on the power play, Matt Boldy found him at the right circle and Kaprizov did not need a second look. Goal No. 14 for the NHL's leading goal scorer, in his 14th game. At this point the scoresheet practically autofills his name.

That strike made it 2-0, and the Minnesota Wild went on to beat the Utah Mammoth 3-1 on Tuesday night at Delta Center. Kaprizov added an assist, Quinn Hughes set up both power-play goals, and Jesper Wallstedt carried a shutout deep into the night until Logan Cooley finally beat him with 1:21 to play. The Wild have won three straight and closed a five-game road trip at 3-1-1.

Zero, Zero, Then a Flood

The first period ended scoreless, and the whole night had an edge, with 46 combined hits and 52 penalty minutes. Wild coach John Hynes liked that just fine. "We were highly competitive. Guys were blocking shots. Guys had three fights, a few scrums. That's what we needed," he said.

The second period brought a scare and a fake-out before it brought a goal. Wild defenseman Jared Spurgeon left at 4:04 after blocking back-to-back shots from Dylan Guenther, and Hynes had no update on him afterward. A little over three minutes later, Ryan Hartman appeared to open the scoring on a power play, but video review showed he had kicked the puck in, and the goal came off the board.

Minnesota got a legal one at 15:04. With Utah shorthanded again, Joel Eriksson Ek teed up a one-timer from the left circle, the right post did him a favor, and the Wild led 1-0. Hughes and Kaprizov drew the assists on his fourth goal of the season.

Then the third period opened with Kaprizov's dagger, and the floodgates followed. At 11:44, Maxim Shabanov pounced on a loose puck in the slot and beat Karel Vejmelka on the blocker side, an unassisted fourth goal of the year for a forward who played just 13:45. Utah's only reply came at 18:39, when Mikhail Sergachev's shot from the point picked up a Nick Schmaltz deflection, pinballed off the post and landed on Cooley's stick in the crease. Cooley finished it, but all it settled was the shutout.

Fourteen for Fourteen

Kaprizov finished with a goal and an assist in 24:36, and the numbers around him are getting silly. According to NHL.com, the only players over the past 30 years to score more goals through the first 14 games of a season are Simon Gagne, Auston Matthews and Leon Draisaitl. He also became the eighth player in league history to score at least 14 goals in a single October, with only Mario Lemieux and Brett Hull ever topping that number. The AP noted he has multiple points in three straight games and a goal in eight of his last nine.

Hynes made the case that it is more than a hot stick. "It's nice to see him get off to a great start to the season and I think the way he's doing it for us is really important. He is a lead player," he said.

Hughes might be having the quieter monster month. His two assists came in 29:54 of ice time, and they pushed him to 18 points (three goals, 15 assists) in 14 games. NHL.com says that makes him just the third defenseman since 1992-93 with 18 or more points in a single October, joining John Carlson and Cale Makar. He also reached 20 multipoint games with Minnesota in his 62nd game with the club, the fastest in franchise history, passing Pavol Demitra's 66.

Wallstedt was the closer. He stopped 26 of 27 shots for a .963 save percentage, and the Mammoth did not solve him until the final two minutes.

For Utah, Cooley scored his fourth goal and Vejmelka made 28 saves on 31 shots. Captain Clayton Keller did not sugarcoat the offensive night. "I think we gotta be hungrier in their zone," he said. "I think we can be better being more connected, coming up the ice together, and supporting our linemates."

The Turning Point: Utah's Penalty Problem

The Mammoth actually controlled a big chunk of the game's raw material. They won 44 faceoffs to Minnesota's 27, a 62 percent clip, and Eriksson Ek won 10 draws and lost 20 on a night he still scored.

It did not matter, because Utah kept handing Minnesota the man advantage. The Wild had six power plays and cashed two, the Eriksson Ek opener and the Kaprizov goal that broke the game open, with Hughes assisting on both. Utah went 0-for-4 on its own chances. Utah coach Andre Tourigny pointed straight at the box. "I think the big story, for me, is the number of penalties we got," he said. "You get in the box seven times against that kind of a power play, you're going to get hurt."

Stats That Matter

• 14 in 14: Kaprizov's goals through 14 games, the most in the NHL.
• 2-for-6: Minnesota's power play, against Utah's 0-for-4. Hughes assisted on both conversions.
• 18: Hughes' October points, making him the third defenseman since 1992-93 to reach that mark in a single October, per NHL.com.
• 27-44: The faceoff count, in Utah's favor. Minnesota won anyway.
• .963: Wallstedt's save percentage on 27 shots.

What It Means

The Wild move to 9-3-2 with 20 points. This trip opened with an overtime loss in Edmonton and a regulation loss in Calgary, then flipped into wins at Seattle, Vancouver and Utah. Minnesota is 5-3-2 on the road and was 4-0-0 at home before the trip, and the Islanders come to town Thursday.

Utah falls to 8-5-0 with 16 points, has lost three of its last five and is 4-2-0 at Delta Center. Things do not get easier from here: the Mammoth open a six-game road trip in Pittsburgh on Thursday, and Keller's point about playing connected is going to matter a lot more away from home.

Rookie Mode

Kaprizov kept his postgame review about as simple as his finish. "We talked before the game today, just play smart and (it was a) good game and a nice win and great to go home," he said. Right now he is playing like somebody set the game to Rookie difficulty and forgot to tell the rest of the league, and Minnesota is happy to ride it as long as the setting lasts.

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Game details from the Associated Press; postgame quotes and historical notes as reported by NHL.com.