SUNRISE, Fla. - Kirill Kaprizov put on a show Saturday night, piling up a hat trick and an assist as the Minnesota Wild rolled past the Florida Panthers 4-1 at Amerant Bank Arena.
Minnesota got goals from Matt Boldy and Kaprizov in the opening 6:18 and never really let Florida settle in. Jesper Wallstedt handled the rest, stopping 29 shots as the Wild improved to 3-1-1 and snapped a two-game slide.
“From the start, (Boldy) scored on the first shift,” Kaprizov said. “The boys played a great game.”
Boldy opened the scoring just 53 seconds into the first period, slipping into the zone with room while Florida was changing and beating Jacob Markstrom with a wrist shot from the top of the slot. Kaprizov picked up the secondary assist on the play, then struck himself on the power play at 6:18 with a one-timer from the right face-off circle to make it 2-0.
Minnesota coach John Hynes said the Wild were after a different look after a 3-2 loss at the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday.
“We wanted to play more connected, at a much more competitive level,” said Minnesota coach John Hynes, whose team was coming off a 3-2 loss at the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday. “We have a group of really competitive players, and we got to that tonight.
That’s a big part of playing a connected, fast game. That was the most complete game we have played of the five (this season) and a great way to end a road trip.”
Florida briefly pushed back in the second period when Matthew Tkachuk stuffed home his own rebound at the side of the net at 2:18, cutting the deficit to 2-1. But that was as close as the Panthers got.
Minnesota answered quickly at 5:00 of the second when Kaprizov buried another wrist shot, this one from the right circle off a cross-ice feed from Boldy. He finished the hat trick into an empty net with 1:04 left to seal the 4-1 final.
“Not the result we wanted,” Tkachuk said. “They are a good hockey team.
It was 2-0 before you could blink, so we were chasing the game one shift in basically. That is not the recipe you want for success.”
Paul Maurice didn’t like the way Florida started or the way it moved after that.
“We were just slower than they were,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “We were slow in all parts of our game.
But (Minnesota) was quick in how they moved the puck, their feet. We were just sluggish.
There were two or three reads that we normally don’t miss and they are in the back of our net. Being back on your heels early in your home opener puts attention on your game.”
Wallstedt protected Minnesota the rest of the way, while Markstrom finished with 25 saves for Florida, which dropped to 2-1-2. The loss also ended the Panthers’ season-opening four-game point streak and snapped their seven-game winning streak in home openers.
The Panthers never found a groove on special teams, either, going 0-for-5 on the power play and slipping to 1-for-28 this season.
Boldy, who finished with a goal and an assist, said the Wild measured themselves against a proven opponent.
“That’s an unbelievable team over there,” Boldy said of the Panthers. “They are missing some guys, but that is a team that has won.
Their core hasn’t changed much. You want to measure yourself against them.
To be able to compare ourselves to them is huge.”
Kaprizov’s night also pushed him deeper into the Wild record book. It was his seventh career hat trick, leaving him two behind Marian Gaborik’s franchise mark of nine. He also recorded his fifth four-point game, tying Mats Zuccarello and Boldy for second-most in Minnesota history, behind Gaborik’s seven.
There was a debut on the Minnesota side, too. Forward Rieger Lorenz played 7:12 and finished minus-1 in his first NHL game.
For Florida, defenseman Aaron Ekblad reached a franchise milestone, becoming the team leader in games played at 807 after breaking a tie with injured captain Aleksander Barkov. Ekblad, back after missing two games on paternity leave, logged 21:19, had three shots on goal and finished minus-1.
The only other injury note from the night came with Eetu Luostarinen, who left midway through the third period after taking a shot off the leg. Maurice said Luostarinen would be evaluated on Sunday.
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