Kirill Kaprizov notched a hat trick, completing it with the go-ahead score with 3:59 remaining in the third period, to lift the Minnesota Wild to a 4-3 win over the San Jose Sharks on Sunday evening in St. Paul, Minn.
Kaprizov has five career hat tricks, including two in the last two weeks. Frederick Gaudreau also scored for Minnesota, which snapped a three-game winless streak. Matt Boldy recorded a pair of assists.
Mikael Granlund, Nico Sturm and Anthony Duclair scored one goal apiece for San Jose. The Sharks fell to 0-6-1 in their past seven games.
Wild goaltender Filip Gustavsson stopped 12 of 15 shots to improve to 17-15-3.
Sharks goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen turned aside 28 of 32 shots but fell to 6-20-2. Kahkonen played against the Wild for the first time they traded him to San Jose on March 21, 2022, along with a fifth-round draft pick in that year’s draft in exchange for defenseman Jacob Middleton.
The Sharks opened the scoring on the power play 1:41 into the second. Granlund notched his eighth goal on a wrist shot from the left circle.
Sturm made it 2-0 in favor of San Jose at 4:56 of the second. He tallied a short-handed goal for his fifth marker of the season.
Less than a minute later, the Wild pulled within 2-1. Gaudreau scored his fourth goal of the season with Declan Chisholm and Jonas Brodin earning assists.
The Wild tied the score at 2-2 on Kaprizov’s first goal of the game 7:01 into the second.
San Jose made it 3-2 in the first minute of the third. Duclair chased down a loose puck and scored on a breakaway for his 14th goal of the season.
Kaprizov struck again to make it 3-3 with 17:22 remaining in the third.
Minnesota took the lead for good on Kaprizov’s third goal of the night and his 29th goal of the season. He fired a rising wrist shot past Kahkonen’s right shoulder.
The Wild held off late pressure from San Jose to secure the regulation-time victory. Minnesota improved to 15-12-4 on home ice.
–Field Level Media
