Kaprizov Injured as Minnesota Wild Extend Point Streak

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The Minnesota Wild moved into a tie for first place in the Central Division Wednesday night, but at what cost?

Minnesota downed the Winnipeg Jets 4-2. But midway through the third period top scorer Kirill Kaprizov had to leave the game after a collision with 6-foot-7, 228-pound defenseman Logan Stanley. He appeared to have an injured left leg as he left the ice.

"He was able to skate off, so I guess if there's a positive that was one of them,” Wild coach Dean Evason said.

The Wild will learn more about Kaprizov’s status today after he is fully evaluated by medical personnel.

Kaprizov’s importance to the Wild cannot be overstated. The Wild currently own an 11-game point streak. They are 9-0-2 during this run. Thursday’s win tied them with the Dallas Stars for the Central Division’s top spot. Nobody is talking much about the Wild, but they are a factor in the wide-open Western Conference.

But to make an extended run they need Kaprizov. He leads the team with 74 points in 65 games. 

The Wild rank 26th in NHL scoring (2.75 goals per game). They need all of Kaprizov’s points. Minnesota’s strength is a third-ranked goals-against average (2.57). The big, feisty Wild team is challenging to play against.

General manager Bill Guerin acquired puck-moving defenseman John Klingberg, plus forwards Marcus Johansson, Gustav Nyquist and Oskar Sundberg at the trade deadline to help the offense.

Goalie Marc-Andre Fleury fueled the win against the Jets with 46 saves. He has won his last four starts, stopping 119 of 124 shots (.960 save percentage) and posting a 1.23 goals-against average.

🚀 J.T. Miller's rocket wrister 20 seconds into overtime earns Canucks third straight win. Late in the first period Miller buried an Elias Pettersson feed for his third shorthanded goal on the year to tie the game at 1-1. And the 29-year-old forward wasn't done there, unleashing a wicked wrister past the glove of Ducks' Lukas Dostal in OT for his 23rd goal and 2nd game winner of the season. Andrei Kuzmenko scored his 30th of the season thanks to a fortuitous bounce and Thatcher Demko collected 20 saves to improve to 3-1 since returning from injury on February 27th. 

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