Kirill Kaprizov kept rolling Tuesday night, and the Minnesota Wild kept right along with him.
Kaprizov scored his NHL-leading 14th goal and added an assist as Minnesota knocked off the Utah Mammoth 3-1 in Salt Lake City. He has now scored in three straight games, and the Wild have won three in a row while closing out a 3-1-1 road trip.
Joel Eriksson Ek and Maxim Shabanov also scored for the Central Division leaders. Quinn Hughes had two assists, and Jesper Wallstedt stopped 26 shots.
Utah got its lone goal from Logan Cooley, and Karel Vejmelka finished with 27 saves as the Mammoth dropped three of their last five.
The game had plenty of edge early and often. The teams piled up 52 penalty minutes, with Minnesota going 2-for-7 on the power play and Utah finishing 0-for-4.
The opening period included two fights and no goals. The second period got even choppier, with officials handing out nine minor penalties - six of them to Utah - plus another fight.
Minnesota finally broke through on the man advantage at 15:04 of the second. Hughes took a return pass from Kaprizov behind the goal line and sent the puck to Eriksson Ek, who buried a one-timer from the top of the left circle for the 1-0 lead.
Even with the early edge on the shot clock, the Wild still had to work for it. Minnesota outshot Utah 23-9 through two periods, but Vejmelka turned aside several quality looks to keep the Mammoth within range.
Kaprizov gave the Wild breathing room just 48 seconds into the third. After a Utah defender went down, Kaprizov gathered a loose puck behind the net and slipped it in front to Matt Boldy. Kaprizov then got the puck back at the right faceoff dot and snapped it into an open net before Vejmelka could recover.
Shabanov made it 3-0 at 11:44, scoring for the second game in a row. He picked up a loose puck in the slot and beat Vejmelka with a wrist shot to the far side.
Wallstedt then came up with a key stop on Cooley moments later to protect the shutout bid, but Utah eventually broke through at 18:39. Cooley jammed in a rebound at the right post during 6-on-5 play to spoil the clean sheet.
In Other News...
Kirill Kaprizov Has The Wild Dreaming About A Bigger Race Again
Kirill Kaprizov has given the Wild exactly the sort of start they were hoping to see after a summer of changes around him. Minnesota let Mats Zuccarello walk in free agency and pushed Kaprizov toward a more downhill approach, hoping to get him closer to the net and into more direct scoring chances. Early in the 2026-27 season, that plan has looked pretty sharp, with Kaprizov once again driving the offense and putting himself right back in the leagues most valuable-player conversation.
The bigger question for Minnesota is how long this pace can last, and whether it can survive the kind of regression that usually comes for hot shooting stretches. Kaprizovs current numbers have the Wild dreaming about a bigger race again, especially after the start he had in 2024-25 before injury changed the shape of that season. For a team that has spent years looking for a true ceiling raiser, this is the kind of early momentum that can change the mood around the room in a hurry. [Read more 🡒]