Kirill Kaprizov leads the NHL with 14 goals through his first 14 games.
Minnesota’s top playmaker will look to continue the hottest start of his seven-year career when the Wild face off against the New York Islanders on Thursday night in Saint Paul, Minn.
The Wild return home after winning the final three contests of their five-game road trip. They beat the Seattle Kraken, Vancouver Canucks and Utah Mammoth by a combined margin of 12-4.
Kaprizov was critical to the team’s success on the road trip as he has been all season. He finished with a goal and an assist in four of the five games, which included the 3-1 win over the Mammoth on Tuesday night.
Wild coach John Hynes said Kaprizov’s hot start is no fluke.
“It’s nice to see him get off to a good start to the season, and I think the way he’s doing it is really important,” Hynes said. “He is an elite player. He’s a guy that can put the puck in the back of the net. But he’s playing the game that he needs to play to give himself a chance to be elite and put himself in scoring situations.
“He’s scoring in multiple ways, so all that’s good. And just stay consistent with it.”
Meanwhile, the Islanders go for back-to-back wins as they wrap up a three-game road trip. They opened with a 6-3 loss against the Dallas Stars, but they rebounded for a 4-3 win in the shootout against the Nashville Predators on Tuesday.
Bo Horvat, Brayden Schenn and Anthony Duclair all will look to stay hot after giving the Islanders a 3-0 lead in Nashville.
“It was a great response game by our group after the Dallas game,” said Islanders coach Pete DeBoer. “This is a hard league to win in, and (Nashville) is a hard building to win in. So it’s a big two points for us.”
DeBoer said the Islanders have a perfect character makeup to earn more wins ahead.
“I think it’s a really close group in there,” DeBoer said. “I’m kind of entering as a new guy, obviously, but it’s impressive. And I think there are great veterans that have been around for a while with good experience and chemistry that have played together for a long time.”
Minnesota could turn to Jesper Wallstedt or Calvin Pickard in net. Wallstedt is 8-2-2 with a 1.99 goals-against average and a .922 save percentage, and Pickard is 1-1-0 with a 3.50 GAA and an .833 save percentage.
The only time Wallstedt faced the Islanders, the Wild earned a 5-2 win on Nov. 7 last season. Pickard is 2-1-0 with a 3.00 GAA in four games against New York.
The Islanders could counter with Ilya Sorokin or Semyon Varlamov in net. Sorokin is 5-3-0 with a 2.26 GAA and a .919 save percentage in eight starts while Varlamov is 1-1-2 with a 2.40 GAA and an .891 save percentage in four starts.
In seven career games against Minnesota, Sorokin is 2-4-1 with a 2.84 GAA. Meanwhile, Varlamov is 13-15-1 with a 2.33 GAA in 30 career games against the Wild.
Minnesota Wild defenseman Jared Spurgeon’s status is uncertain for Thursday after he departed Tuesday’s win at Utah after blocking a pair of shots on the penalty kill.
–Field Level Media
