Kirill Kaprizov continues to claim the National Hockey League (NHL) Rookie of the Season award.
The Minnesota forward scored in a second straight game and helped his team win an away win over Los Angeles.
This time he limited himself to one point for performance, but scored it at a key moment of the meeting.
The Russian again came to the fore in overtime, but did not score himself, but assisted Markus Johansson.
The scenario of the second game between Los Angeles and Minnesota differed little from the previous one.
In the first period, the rivals distinguished themselves once, but in the second period the hosts seized the initiative and twice left Cam Talbot out of business.
In the last 20 minutes, the guests made a comeback and restored parity, and in overtime they were a little luckier.
Thus, for the first time in more than five years, Wild began the regular season with two wins in a row.
The last time this happened was in the 2015/16 season, when the team won three times at the start.
It is noteworthy that the successful series was interrupted by the Kings.
Like two days earlier, Caprices took a direct part in the triumph of the team from Minneapolis, even if at first everything was not in his favor.
During the second segment, he twice showed himself not in the best way in defense, resulting in two conceded goals.
In both cases, Cyril lacked agility in the fight, which first led to a goal from Blake Lisott after a throw from Drew Doughty from the blue line, and then to Andreas Atanasiu's puck after a two-on-one exit.
However, in the end, Caprice was fully rehabilitated for his mistakes.
Five seconds before the final siren, he forced Michael Anderson to make a mistake at the side, in fact, organizing the saving goal of Ryan Suter, and in overtime brought Johansson to the shot.
The Russian took advantage of the confusion of the Los Angeles defenders and promptly gave it to the undisguised Swede.
The rest remained a matter of technique.
Of course, at the moment it is very early to draw conclusions about the prospects of Kaprizov himself, and even more so the favorites in the fight for the Calder Trophy.
Most of the teams managed to play only two matches, and some even went on the ice only once.
At the same time, it is necessary to understand that “Minnesota” has prevailed over not the strongest opponent.
Over the past two seasons, Los Angeles has been among the four worst teams in the league.
But Kaprizov's speeches make such an impression that it is extremely difficult not to include him among the main contenders for the award, at least at the moment.
Especially against the background of Alexi Lafreniere, who has not yet scored a single point for the effectiveness of the first number of the 2020 draft, who scored only one goal from Tim Stüzle or who failed the debut of Yegor Sorokin.
In the confrontation with the Rangers, the goalkeeper took a place at the Islanders goal instead of Semyon Varlamov, who was injured on the roll, but missed five goals at once.
At the same time, he saved only 84.4% of shots, which is still the fifth-worst indicator in the league.
Unlike competitors, Kaprizov already has something to show in the race for the Calder Trophy.
He made himself into Minnesota history with three points in his first game for the team.
Previously, this was not possible for any debutant "Wild", and two effective actions managed to be noted only by Luis Belpedio in 2018.
If we take domestic hockey players, then Kirill became the fourth Russian to collect a collection of three or more points in the first meeting.
So, he caught up with Sergei Makarov and Ilya Byakin, and lost only to Stanislav Chistov.
In 2002, the Anaheim forward scored a goal and three assists.
Among other things, he was only the third rookie in league history to score outright in overtime.
The last time Tim Sweeney succeeded was in 1990, and for the previous 49 years the achievement was solely owned by Nick Knott.
At the moment, Kaprizov has four (1 + 3) points and is the leader in the top scorers' race among newcomers.
The closest pursuers are John Leonard of San Jose, Ty Smith of the New Jersey Devils and Joshua Norris of Ottawa, two points behind him.
But if this advantage is still difficult to call serious arguments in terms of assessing Kirill's prospects, then the reviews of coaches and partners allow us to draw up a more complete picture.
So, after the first game, Wild's mentor Dean Evason was more than satisfied with the striker's actions, noting his contribution to the success not only on someone else's, but also on his own half of the site.
“We can talk a lot about how good Caprice was in attack, but he also acted excellently in defense,” Evason said.
The mentor's opinion was fully supported by the experienced Zach Parise.
The Wild veteran also admired Kaprizov's dedication, saying that he tried to be as useful to the team as possible.
“Many people have a prejudice that the Russian players focus too much on the attack, leaving the game on the defensive for others.
But Kaprizov worked fine today without the puck, trying with all his might to take it away.
He was useful not only at the gates of others, but also at his own, "- quotes the press service of the NHL Parise.
At the same time, Kaprizov's success has a very logical explanation.
Unlike most other newcomers, he arrived in North America in the status of a ready-made athlete who has managed to achieve a lot in adult hockey - and at the level of both clubs and national teams.
Undoubtedly, the experience of playing for CSKA, famous for its systematic approach to the game, played a special role in its formation.
Kirill had to adapt to the strict requirements of Igor Nikitin, and sometimes even go down to the lower ranks for the success of the red and blue.
During the 2019 Gagarin Cup, he often found himself in the fourth combination, which did not prevent him from entering the top 10 best scorers in the playoffs.
Already as part of the army team, Whims learned to clearly implement the game plan, not to avoid rough work and act for the good of the team, not only in attack, but also in defense.
All this was noticeable in the Russian national team, which he helped to win gold at the Olympic Games in Pyeongchang and bronze at the 2019 World Cup.
In South Korea, he took second place in the scorers' dispute (5 + 4), losing only to Nikita Gusev (4 + 8).
Thus, there is every reason to believe that Kaprizov may have some advantage in the battle for the Calder Trophy.
Judging by the first matches, Minnesota completely trusts him, which is reflected in the amount of playing time.
On average, he spends 20 minutes and 29 seconds on the ice, behind only four defenders in this indicator.
In addition, in the past season, fans have already witnessed how difficult some young stars are coping with adaptation.
There is a possibility that the nominal favorite in the fight for the prize in the person of Lafreniere will follow the example of Jack Hughes of New Jersey and will not be ready for adult hockey.
Suffice it to recall that in the last championship, the first draft pick of 2019 scored only 21 (7 + 14) points in 61 meetings, completing the regular season with a utility of -26.
Undoubtedly, Alexi seems to be more suited to the NHL, but the same was said about Kaapo Kakko.
And the Finn did not go far from the aforementioned American (10 + 13, "-26").