Kaprizov's overtime goal for Wild caps memorable debut

Kirill Kaprizov said the most stressful moment on the day of his NHL debut came a few hours before the Minnesota Wild forward scored three points, including the winning overtime goal, in a 4-3 victory against the Los Angeles Kings at Staples Center on Thursday.

About 20 minutes before Kaprizov was to leave the Wild's hotel for their season opener, the 23-year-old rookie went to slip on his tie and realized it was unknotted. The problem was he'd never tied one before.
"I tried for 10, 15, 20 minutes to do it myself," Kaprizov said through a translator Friday. "I couldn't figure it out."
Kaprizov finally phoned for help and Wild director of team operations Andrew Hedyt came to his rescue and tied the tie for him.
"But there were some frantic moments, for sure," Kaprizov said.
By comparison, the rest of Kaprizov's night went smoothly.
Though he acknowledged experiencing some early nerves, he settled down quickly and more than lived up to the excited anticipation of his arrival from his native Russia, where he led the Kontinental Hockey League in goals each of the past two seasons with CSKA Moscow, scoring 30 in 57 games in 2018-19 and 33 in 57 games last season.
"The first couple of shifts, I was definitely a little cautious, you know, something new, a new experience for me," Kaprizov said. "But as the game went on, I felt a little more comfortable."
Before the start of training camp, coach Dean Evason mentioned how he'd been hearing about Kaprizov, Minnesota's fifth-round pick (No. 135) in the 2015 NHL Draft, since he joined the Wild as an assistant in 2018. So Evason and general manager Bill Guerin have been careful not to build up expectations since the Wild signed Kaprizov to a two-year entry-level contract on July 13, 2020.
"We've said from Day One, and communicated to him, there are no expectations," Evason said. "We don't have expectations of him leading the League in scoring. We're not asking him to put up this total number or whatever. We're asking him to come in and be a good teammate and work hard. That's our expectation as an organization and we know and feel if he does that, he will give himself an opportunity to have success.
"But most importantly he'll give his team an opportunity to have success."
That's what Kaprizov did Thursday. He scored his first NHL point when he set up defenseman Jonas Brodin's goal from the left circle that gave the Wild a 1-0 lead with 3:54 remaining in the first period and then fed forward Victor Rask in the slot for a goal 3:15 into the third that began Minnesota's comeback from being down 3-1.
Kaprizov scored his first NHL goal 3:47 into overtime by beating Kings goalie Jonathan Quick between the pads. Kaprizov said the goal was a bit lucky because he lost control of the puck when he tried to pull it from his backhand to his forehand and it deflected into the net off his skate.
"It's not what I intended to do, but it worked out in the end and the goal went in," he said.

Kaprizov became the third player in NHL history to score an overtime goal in his NHL debut, joining Nick Knott (1941-42 with the Brooklyn Americans) and Tim Sweeney (1990-91 with the Calgary Flames). Many of his friends and family members back home watched it live because the game began at 10 a.m. in Russia.
Being mobbed on the ice by his teammates and the host of congratulatory texts and calls completed the special day, but by Friday afternoon Kaprizov was looking ahead to the Wild's rematch with the Kings at Staples Center on Saturday (9 p.m. ET; FS-W, FS-N, FS-WI, NHL.TV).
"It was an amazing moment for me," he said. "But at the end of the day, it's just one game, it's just the first game of the season, and for me it's the next game, the next couple of weeks. Just really switching to that mentality that it was great the way it all happened. But at the end of the day I need to start focusing on the next game and make sure this continues through the rest of the season."
Kaprizov said he has not set any goals as far as how many goals or points he'll want to score this season. His focus is on helping Minnesota win.
"For me, it's really about coming to the rink, playing my hardest every single game and expecting the same of my teammates," he said. "And if everyone comes to the rink and plays their heart out and gives 110 percent and we win at the end, I think that's all that matters. And all of the personal points and accolades, that comes second to me."
Kaprizov is already proving he's a quick learner. He doesn't anticipate his tie being a problem again.
"I told [Hedyt] that he's going to have to do that every game," he said. "But to be honest, I didn't even untie it. I'm just going to leave it tied up from now on."