Kaprizov scores four points for Wild in victory against Stars

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Kirill Kaprizov had a goal and three assists for his first four-point game in the NHL, and the Minnesota Wild defeated the Dallas Stars 7-2 at Xcel Energy Center on Thursday.

"I just tried to play hockey," Kaprizov said. "I just tried to play my game and do the best I could every single night, and what happens happens."
Alex Goligoski, Mats Zuccarello and Victor Rask each had a goal and two assists for Minnesota (11-5-0). Cam Talbot made 36 saves.
"It's great to get seven goals but we did it the right way. We played team first," Wild coach Dean Evason said. "We weren't extending our shifts. We weren't individually trying to score. We were scoring the right way, and that was certainly nice for us to see and obviously nice for the group to get rewarded when they do that."
Jacob Peterson and Jamie Benn scored for Dallas (6-7-2). Anton Khudobin allowed seven goals on 26 shots before being pulled 13:32 into the third period. Jake Oettinger did not face a shot in relief.
"Getting beat defensively like we did tonight, that's not our team at all," Stars coach Rick Bowness said. "That's will. I think the good news is I know that we can compete with that team, and I know we can clean up the issues that we had tonight. But there has to be a desire, there has to be emotion, there has to be a passion and a will to fix those things."

Ryan Suter played 23:58 in his first game against Minnesota since the defenseman had his contract bought out by the Wild on July 28. Suter played nine seasons and had 369 points (55 goals, 314 assists) through 656 games for the Wild. He signed a four-year contract with the Stars the same day.
"I'll always have a place in my heart for Minnesota, the people here," Suter said. "It was pretty cool. Now we can move on, kind of."
Rem Pitlick gave the Wild a 1-0 lead at 9:24 of the first period with a wrist shot from the left circle.
Zuccarello passed to Kaprizov wide open at the back door for a tap-in to make it 2-0 at 15:09.
Ryan Hartman increased the lead to 3-0 at 18:59 of the second period, scoring on a rebound on the doorstep.
Peterson beat Talbot high glove from the slot at 3:50 of the third period to cut it to 3-1, but Goligoski made it 4-1 at 7:15 with a wrist shot from the point for his first goal with the Wild.
"Any time you get a goal right after they score, especially when they make it a two-goal game there, we get one right back. That was nice," Goligoski said. "You can breathe easier after that one and just get back to work."

Kaprizov sent a back pass to Frederick Gaudreau in front for a 5-1 lead at 8:53.
Benn scored on the power play off a rebound in front to make it 5-2 at 12:38.
Zuccarello pushed the lead to 6-2 at 13:07, and Rask made it 7-2 at 13:52.
"When you give up seven, it's hard to pin down one thing [that went wrong]," Stars forward Tyler Seguin said. "We kind of gave them the first three, at least, and then they had a couple fluky ones in the third. That's a tough one. That's a spanking. That's a tough one. … Back to the drawing board."
NOTES: Kaprizov (24 years, 206 days) became the fourth Wild player in the past 15 years to have a four-point game at age 24 or younger (Matt Dumba, 1-3-4, March 29, 2018, 23 years, 247 days; Guillaume Latendresse, 1-3-4, Jan. 11, 2010, 22 years, 232 days; Pierre-Marc Bouchard (three times, last 2-2-4, Jan. 21, 2008, 23 years, 269 days). … Defenseman Jared Spurgeon was plus-5 for a third time with the Wild to tie a team record (Suter, Nov. 29, 2019; Greg Pateryn, Nov. 3, 2018; Clayton Stoner, March 25, 2013; Todd White, Oct. 19, 2005). … Stars forward Joe Pavelski had his seven-game point streak end (three goals, four assists). … Rask was a healthy scratch the past four games. … Marcus Foligno was the only Wild forward without at least one point.