ST. PAUL, Minn. — Kirill Kaprizov scored a pair of tying goals Saturday and is now one goal from another 40-goal season with six games left in Minnesota’s season, but former University of Minnesota-Duluth forward Alex Iafallo scored the eventual winning goal in the second period when he deflected Brenden Dillon’s point shot as the Wild lost to the Winnipeg Jets, 4-2, at Xcel Energy Center.
Vladislav Namestnikov had three points for the Jets.
The Wild went 2-2-2 on their six-game homestand and the playoff-bound Jets won a third straight content.
The Wild, who are close to being mathematically eliminated from postseason contention, are 0-9-1 this season against the top three teams in the Central — Dallas, Colorado and Winnipeg.
- The Wild have won eight of 28 games against the nine teams ahead of them in the Western Conference standings. They have lost 10 of their past 11.
- Brock Faber picked up his 35th assist, which ranks first amongst rookie defensemen. His 42 points is one behind New Jersey’s Luke Hughes.
- Ryan Hartman, a Chicago native, is eligible to return from a three-game suspension Sunday against the Blackhawks in the first game of the Wild’s five-game road trip that continues to Colorado, Las Vegas, San Jose and Los Angeles.
Kirill the Thrill scores his 38th goal of the season!#MNWILD | #NHL pic.twitter.com/1gzE5UaN6x
— Bally Sports North (@BallySportsNOR) April 6, 2024
Kaprizov continues hot streak
The Wild continue to be a one-man show as Kaprizov continued his torrid streak with very little support. He scored his 38th and 39th goals of the season on a couple beautiful plays set up by partner-in-crime Mats Zuccarello, who leads the Wild with 48 assists. Kaprizov first scored on a spin-o-rama in front of Connor Hellebuyck, then on a blistering one-timer. The latter was his 15th power-play goal for his eighth multi-goal game of the season. He’s the only player in Wild history to have two 40-goal seasons and is now a goal away from three in a row. Kaprizov extended his overall point streak to six games (three goals, nine points) and now has an 11-game home point streak (10 goals, 18 points). He’s the first player in franchise history with multiple double-digit home point streaks (also 14 games in 2022-23).
KIRILL DOES IT AGAIN#MNWILD | #NHL pic.twitter.com/eyflFcfdNC
— Bally Sports North (@BallySportsNOR) April 6, 2024
Rough start … and ending for Merrill-Goligoski pair
Jon Merrill and Alex Goligoski played well in Thursday’s loss to Colorado in Goligoski’s first game after 24 consecutive scratches. Saturday? Not so much. They were scored on twice in their first four shifts, the first on a Goligoski turnover on an attempted exchange behind the net, the second when Kyle Connor buried a two-on-one pass from Sean Monahan after Merrill made a poor play at the offensive blue line. In the third period, Goligoski and Merrill were on the ice and nowhere to be found when Morgan Barron made it 4-2. With a second of a back-to-back in Chicago on Sunday, we’ll see if Goligoski is replaced by Dakota Mermis or if Zach Bogosian can return from a mid-body injury. Bogosian has missed two games in a row but was expected to travel.
Kyle Connor is back in the goalscorer’s column for the first time in 8 games!
The Jets take a 2-1 lead. pic.twitter.com/aE2lFbChqN
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) April 6, 2024
Wallstedt recalled from Iowa
As expected once things became obvious about the Wild’s early offseason, the Wild have recalled Jesper Wallstedt from AHL Iowa. He is slated to make his second NHL start Sunday afternoon in Chicago. The Wild planned to give Wallstedt a handful of starts down the stretch to see where he’s at heading into the offseason and to not have his disastrous seven-goal-against NHL debut in Dallas from January be his lasting memory going into the offseason. Of course, he was recalled a day after giving up seven in an Iowa loss to Hershey. Starting against the Blackhawks will be special because his parents happen to be in the United States and were due to stay through Tuesday’s AHL game against Rockford. His dad, Jonas, made it to his NHL debut, but his mom, Helena, did not because she was stopped in Europe by the airline because she didn’t have a return trip planned for Sweden. Wallstedt’s recall Saturday meant he missed Jesper Wallstedt Bobblehead Night Saturday in Des Moines. Wallstedt is 21-19-3 with a 2.76 goals-against average, .908 save percentage and two shutouts in 43 games with Iowa this season.
GO DEEPER
‘He wants to be the man’: An afternoon with Wild goalie of the future Jesper Wallstedt
Three stars
1. Vladislav Namestnikov, Jets: Scored a goal and two assists.
2. Kirill Kaprizov, Wild: Scored both of Minnesota’s goals, had five shots and five others attempted. He has 13 goals in his past 15 games.
3. Alex Iafallo, Jets: Scored the winning goal and had an assist for a plus-3 game.
(Photo: Bruce Fedyck / USA Today)
