Kaprizov scores League-leading 10th goal, Wild edge Blue Jackets

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Kirill Kaprizov scored his League-leading 10th goal of the season to help the Minnesota Wild defeat the Columbus Blue Jackets, 2-1 at Grand Casino Arena on Sunday.

Kaprizov scored the game-winning goal at 3:06 of the second period, giving the Wild a 2-1 lead by going short side over Columbus goaltender Cam Talbot’s shoulder with a sharp-angled shot from low in the left circle.

“I think I gave him a little bit too much,” Talbot said. “He put it in a great spot.”

The forward extended his point streak to six games (12 points; seven goals, five assists).

“Just playing, play games, and just feel good,” Kaprizov said. “I feel like first couple games it was a little bit tough. Don’t feel like power right away. But then after two, three, four games, feel better a little bit now.”

Danila Yurov scored, and Jesper Wallstedt made 13 saves as the Wild (6-2-1) remained undefeated at home in four games. Minnesota won for the fourth time in five games.

“Felt like we controlled a lot of the game,” said Wallstedt, who won his sixth game this season. “We knew they were coming off a back-to-back. We also knew they had a good game last night, so we knew we had to be on our toes early. 

“It felt good for us all game. And when they had some pushes, we stood strong and put another zero in again.”

Adam Fantilli scored for the Blue Jackets (3-4-0), and Talbot made 32 saves. The Blue Jackets lost for the third time in four games.

“The execution wasn’t there,” Blue Jackets coach Rick Bowness said. “Was the effort there? Yes, it was. We worked very hard. But the execution – we couldn’t get any real flow going to the game. That would be the biggest disappointment, the execution. … I thought we battled hard.”

Yurov gave the Wild a 1-0 lead at 18:12 of the first period. Yakov Trenin sent over a pass, and Yurov finished the play with a wrist shot off an odd-man rush for his fourth goal in nine games this season.

“He’s going to be a top-two line center the way that he thinks the game, sees the game,” Wild coach John Hynes said. “Now, we’re starting to see his skating, his confidence, his offensive instincts, on top of his hockey smarts and acumen without the puck, which is excellent.”

A minute later, at 19:12, the Blue Jackets tied the game 1-1 when Fantilli scored. His shot from the top of the left circle came with Columbus skating 6-on-5 on a delayed Wild penalty.

The Wild held the Blue Jackets to 14 shots on goal, tied for the second-lowest single game total in Wild franchise history (13 shots against Anaheim on Jan. 18, 2003).

“I think we just didn’t execute the way we should have,” Fantilli said. “We were putting pucks in guys’ feet. We were putting guys in tough positions. We weren’t working for our teammates to make their lives easier.

“We worked extremely hard but I feel like we could have worked smarter. We didn’t get enough shots. ‘Talbs’ stood on his head tonight -- he gave us a chance.”

NOTES: Kaprizov became the fastest player to 10 goals in Wild history, beating the mark of Brian Rolston (12 games in 2006-07). He’s also the sixth active player to reach 10 goals in nine games or fewer in a season, following Auston Matthews (six games in 2018-19), Alex Ovechkin (eight games in 2017-18), David Pastrnak (nine games in 2018-19 and 2019-20), Nikita Kucherov (nine games in 2017-18) and Sidney Crosby (nine games in 2016-17). … The Wild have scored a power-play goal in eight of nine games to start the season, going 9-for-28 overall for a percentage of 32.1 that ranks second in the NHL. … Kaprizov factored on a game-winning goal for the 78th time in his career, passing Marian Gaborik (77) for the third most in franchise history behind Mikko Koivu (122) and Zach Parise (86). … Kaprizov has scored at least one goal in each of his past four games against Columbus. … Joel Eriksson Ek recorded his 200th career assist on Kaprizov’s goal. … Matt Boldy’s game-high six shots on goal pushed his season total to 41, ranking second in the NHL.