The remaining hats reached the ice after Kaprizov's goal, fans chucking them joyously to bring to a fever pitch a party that started brewing once Eriksson Ek scored his first goal, a broken play that saw Blues defenseman Robert Bortuzzo turn the puck over when his stick snapped in two during a clearing attempt.
As soon as the puck - Minnesota's first shot on goal at 9:33 of the first period -- passed St. Louis goalie Ville Husso, the crowd erupted, a crescendo of noise and palpable relief reverberating throughout the arena, releasing a joy that had been pent up throughout a 4-0 loss in Game 1 on Monday.
"We hadn't scored a goal on Husso]," Wild coach Dean Evason said. "To get that one, and for it again to be our first shot on net, it really gave us a boost forward. And then again we did a lot of really good things."
Nobody did more good things than Kaprizov, who scored on the power play at 19:06 of the first period to give Minnesota a 3-0 lead, and again at 11:47 of the third period on a nifty set up from Mats Zuccarello on a 2-on-1 to make it 5-2.
There were smiles and jokes in the aftermath, two things understandably missing after Game 1.
Eriksson Ek joked that forward Marcus Foligno, the player offside on his disallowed goal, should offer to buy hats for those fans who celebrated prematurely.
It's easy to laugh after a blowout win and an effective offense that restored equilibrium to a team that was wobbled by the loss Monday, its sixth in a row to St. Louis which dated to the 2020-21 regular season.
The fact that it was Kaprizov who led the way in Game 2 made it extra special.
He is the unquestioned star in Minnesota, the player expected to seize big moments, especially after a 47-goal showing in the regular season, a stunning encore to the Calder Trophy he won the previous season as the NHL's top rookie.
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But playoff success had eluded Kaprizov, who had three points (two goals, one assist) in the seven-game loss to the Vegas Golden Knights in the first round last season and was bottled up by a Blues defense that suffocated him during 5-on-5 play Monday.
Kaprizov has dealt with such obstacles before on stages nearly as big. He won championships while playing in Russia before the NHL, as well as on the Olympic stage. He said he knew he was ready for this moment.
"You build up a repertoire of experience that you can use in key moments to understand when to relax, when to tighten up, when to kind of put the pressure on a little bit," he said through a translator. "So, you learn, you get a lot more experience, and it's obviously very helpful in key moments in playoffs."
Simply put, he has learned to keep his head when those around him are losing theirs.
"I don't feel the pressure," Kaprizov said. "It's just up to me and all the players to score goals, and had we scored those goals in the first game, obviously it would be different. But overall, I think the team did that today. We were able to score the goals when we needed to, and so we all take the onus on ourselves to be better and focus on the next game."
Those who have watched Kaprizov also knew that it was just a matter of time before he had a signature moment like the one authored Wednesday. In the aftermath of Game 1, Evason was asked what his team would have to do to free up Kaprizov from St. Louis' checking scheme.
After Game 2, he pointed out the folly of that premise.
"We're not going to have to do anything. He's just going to do what he does," Evason said. "He's just going to play hard. Sure, he's got two, three people around him. They're trying to hit him. He's just going to play through it. He just stays the course, just goes about his business.
"It shouldn't surprise, his response when teams play him that hard and well that he takes it as a big challenge. He did tonight and had a great game."
A game that may well have changed the complexion of this series.
