The Minnesota Wild didn’t just bank another win Friday night. They hit a milestone, and they did it while leaving plenty of room for more.
Minnesota’s 4-1 victory over the San Jose Sharks gave the franchise its 1000th regular-season win at Grand Casino Arena, and the way it unfolded only added to the sense that this team still has another level to reach. The Wild got four points from Kirill Kaprizov and three from Quinn Hughes, then leaned on Jesper Wallstedt’s 23 saves to keep control of the night.
Kaprizov scored his NHL league-leading 16th goal and added three assists, touching every Minnesota goal in the game. Hughes chipped in a goal and two assists, while Wallstedt picked up his league-leading 11th victory. The Wild moved to 12-3-3, won their third straight, and stretched their seven-game run to 6-0-1.
The early tone belonged to Minnesota’s top end. On a five-on-three power play in the opening period, Hughes set up Kaprizov for a one-timer at 7:56. That goal pushed Kaprizov’s point streak to seven games, matching streaks also reached Friday by Hughes and Matt Boldy.
San Jose managed to draw even in the second period, but Minnesota answered on the power play again, this time through Maxim Shabanov. Then Hughes and Zach Bogosian added goals in the third to turn a tight game into a comfortable finish. Wallstedt didn’t have to weather a heavy shot barrage, and Minnesota didn’t need to force the issue to separate.
What makes the win stand out even more is who wasn’t in the lineup. Brock Faber, Jared Spurgeon and Filip Gustavsson were all still out, yet the Wild kept stacking results. The recent stretch suggests Minnesota’s start has held up even without a full roster.
And Faber’s return is getting closer. He has been back at practice after fracturing his skull when a puck hit him during a September 25 preseason game against the Dallas Stars.
He has been medically cleared to play, with strength and conditioning now the final step before he can return to game action. Faber is expected to travel with the team on its upcoming trip to Montreal, Toronto and Boston.
That still doesn’t mean he’ll be in the lineup right away. Coach John Hynes called the timetable a “moving target,” so the comeback is possible, not guaranteed. When he does return, Faber is expected to line up with Hughes on Minnesota’s top defensive pair.
The numbers show why that matters. Faber posted 51 points in 80 regular-season games last season and added ten points in eleven playoff appearances. His return would bring back a proven contributor, not just another body.
It could also sharpen the Wild’s puck movement. Hughes has already been driving offense, and Friday’s three-point night was another reminder of that. Pairing him again with Faber would give Minnesota another strong option for starting the attack, holding the puck in the offensive zone and feeding its skilled forwards.
There’s also the ripple effect on the rest of the blue line. Getting a top-pair defenseman back gives Hynes more room to adjust matchups and spread the workload instead of asking the same group to cover the same missing piece.
In Other News...
Wild Waste Big Night From Maxim Shabanov In Painful Collapse
Maxim Shabanov gave the Wild a night worth remembering for most of regulation, scoring twice as Minnesota kept its point streak alive and looked positioned to leave Tampa Bay with another strong result. The rookies breakout performance fit the kind of depth scoring that has helped keep Minnesota rolling, and for a long stretch it appeared the Wild had done enough to turn his big night into a road win.
Instead, the finish turned cruel. Tampa Bay erased the cushion late in the third period and forced overtime before Nikita Kucherov ended it on the power play for a 4-3 Lightning victory, with Jake Guentzel driving the comeback with two goals and an assist. For Minnesota, the point streak reached eight games, but the collapse left Shabanovs effort feeling like a footnote instead of the headline. [Read more 🡒]
Iowa Wild Have Some Intriguing Names Trending Up On This Road Trip
The Iowa Wild kept their road trip moving in the right direction with a 3-1 win over the Milwaukee Admirals at UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena, a result that offered a little bit of everything for Minnesotas development pipeline. Riley Mercer handled the crease well, turning aside 28 shots, while Dylan Gambrell and Justin Kirkland each chipped in multi-point nights as Iowa found enough offense to control the game after settling in.
The scoring came in a timely way, with three goals overall and two of them arriving in the second period to swing the momentum. For a club trying to sort out which names are starting to trend up, this was the kind of performance that stands out on a road trip, and it leaves Iowa heading into its next matchup against the Rockford IceHogs with a little more intrigue around several players worth watching. [Read more 🡒]
Wild Collapse Just Made One Goaltending Decision Even Tougher
Minnesotas latest loss only sharpened the questions in net. The Wild let a two-goal lead slip away in a 4-3 overtime defeat to the Lightning, with Calvin Pickard in goal and finishing with 30 saves, a performance that still wasnt enough to protect a game Minnesota had in hand twice. It was the kind of result that leaves a coaching staff looking hard at every option, especially when the margin for error is already thin.
Filip Gustavssons recovery from hip surgery is part of that equation, and his return would give the Wild another experienced option behind Jesper Wallstedt, who has been carrying a heavy load. Gustavsson is approaching an important checkpoint in his rehab, and once he gets through that process, Minnesota will have to sort out how its goaltending picture really fits together. For now, though, the collapse in Tampa only made the decision tree more complicated. [Read more 🡒]