Gone Puck Wild
Fansided

‘Ugly’ wins for the Minnesota Wild but Kirill Kaprizov’s game remains pretty

By Tim Johnson

Kirill Kaprizov has 12 points over the last two weeks and is a reason why the Minnesota Wild are riding a four-game winning streak entering Wednesday's m,atchup with Calgary.(Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports)
Kirill Kaprizov has 12 points over the last two weeks and is a reason why the Minnesota Wild are riding a four-game winning streak entering Wednesday's m,atchup with Calgary.(Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports) /
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112. 13-9-2. 98. Bally Sports North . Wednesday, Dec. 7. 12-10-3. . 7 p.m. CST

Minnesota sports aren’t for the faint of heart.

This past Sunday afternoon showed that.

The Minnesota Vikings held off the New York Jets’ last gasp effort in the red zone in a game in which they had leads of 14- and 12 points it. It continued their season-long successful run as the cardiac kids.

But the Minnesota Wild seemingly said, ‘Watch this’.

The Wild led 5-1 in the third period in Dallas, only to have the Stars roll off four straight goals to force the game into extra time. After a scoreless overtime period, Minnesota converted on three attempts in the shoortout to get the win.

It allowed the Wild to extend their winning streak to four games. and came a day after Minnesota got a shootout win over Anaheim to end a seven-game homestand in St. Paul.

Minnesota continues its four-game road trip on Wednesday night against Calgary. The Wild are s 13-8-2 in their last 23 games at the Saddledome. Minnesota lost two of three matchups with the Flames last season, two of which came at the Xcel Energy Center.

True, it might have been a pair of ugly or gritty wins over the weekend, but who’s complaining at this point? At least that much?

One thing that has been far from ugly is the play of Kirlll Kapriov. In fact, his game-tying goal late in regulation against the Ducks was a thing of beauty. He got a shot off from the slot as he was falling to the ice.

Then there was his goal in the shootout against the Ducks. And he also had one of the three for the Wild on Sunday afternoon.

It doesn’t come as a surprise. Kaprizov has found his way onto the scoresheet a lot recently

He is riding a cozen-game scoring streak and has scored a goal in six consecutive games. For the year, he has 16 goals and 32 points in 24 games. He entered Wednesday  He is tied with the Stars’ standout Jason Robertson with 12 points over the past two weeks, which is second in the NHL and a point behind Connor McDavid.

Needless to say Kaprizov has been on fire lately. 

The Wild look to be heating up too and piling up wins after a slow start to the season.

The manner they are doing so just might not always look the prettiest.

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