Against the backdrop of Kuznetsov’s return: Svechnikov was recognized as the first star of the NHL match, Kaprizov reached the 70-point mark

Kaprizov's glasses

Kirill Kaprizov extended his scoring streak in the NHL regular season to four games, and his Minnesota won an important home victory over Nashville in overtime.

The Wild continue to fight for a spot in the playoffs, but their position is quite precarious.

Among the hunters for a ticket to the Stanley Cup, four teams had an equal number of points on the eve of this meeting (67 each) - in addition to Kaprizov’s team, these were Seattle, Calgary and St. Louis.

The start of the game was left to the hosts: already in the 4th minute, Jonas Brodin opened the scoring, having cleared the spot.

At first, in this episode, the assist was recorded on Kaprizov, but then changes were made to the protocol.

The Predators bounced back quite quickly, and at the start of the second period they took the lead.

The Wild managed to restore parity only shortly before the break, when the guests found themselves in the minority.

After Mats Zuccarello's shot, there was a commotion in front of Juuse Saros's goal, and the most agile in this crowd was the Russian forward of Minnesota, who pushed the puck past the goalkeeper.

This goal was Kaprizov's 31st this season and the 145th of his NHL career.

Thus, Kirill surpassed Alexander Radulov in the list of the best Russian snipers in the history of the league and rose to 33rd place.

Seven accurate shots separate him from Sergei Nemchinov.

In the third period, Minnesota again managed to take the lead, but the opponent equalized the score and sent the game into overtime.

And then Wild head coach John Hynes decided to go all in and remove the goalie.

According to NHL rules, in the event of a defeat in this case, the team loses even one point earned for a draw in regulation time.

According to the American specialist, the team’s position is such that this risk was necessary, and in the end it fully justified itself.

At the decisive moment, Kaprizov showed himself again, who, together with Zuccarello, brought Matt Boldy to throw.

Thus, the Russian added one more point to his scorer’s treasury and brought his number to 70. Apart from Kirill, only Artemy Panarin (87) and Nikita Kucherov (107) among Russians reached this level in the current regular season.

Svechnikov's star and Kuznetsov's plunger

The result of another game day match played into the hands of Kaprizov and his team, in which Carolina defeated Calgary on their ice (7:2), one of Minnesota’s direct competitors for reaching the playoffs.

Andrei Svechnikov made a significant contribution to this result, scoring a goal and two assists.

The Russian was one of the most active players on the court and was rightly recognized as the first star of the meeting.

The Hurricanes simply crushed the opponent from the first minutes of the match, not allowing them to breathe.

During the entire first period, the guests were able to make only two shots on target at Frederik Andersen's goal, while his opponent Daniel Vladarz had a difficult time: the Czech's possessions were attacked 16 times and three times he was powerless.

Svechnikov participated in Carolina’s second goal, and he continued the rout of the Flames after the break.

The Russian played a football game with Sebastian Aho and, having received a return pass, irresistibly threw it into an unprotected corner of the goal.

Andrey made another assist in the end, when Teuvo Teräväinen set the final score of the match.

“We just wanted to keep playing our game.

We felt very confident and controlled the course of the match,” Svechnikov commented on the big victory.

Evgeny Kuznetsov, who moved to Raleigh from Washington, played his second game for the Hurricanes.

The Russian, who had not previously played since January 27, has not yet scored effective actions, although he was close to this in the first period of the reporting match.

At one point, he received the puck on the spot, but was unable to beat Vladarz.

After the match, the striker noted that he does not focus on his own statistics - the main thing for him is to benefit the team.

“I want to get back in shape and just pass, play, work hard and do whatever it takes.

The glasses will appear.

I'm in a position now where winning means more to me... that's what I'm invested in.

For me, this is more than just glasses,” noted Evgeniy.

The Hurricanes received the Russian very well.

He admitted that he feels comfortable in the team, although many things are new to him.

Interestingly, after the game with the Flames, head coach Rod Brindamore presented Kuznetsov with a plunger.

The specialist laughed and said that he had no idea what it was, but it was probably a reference to one of Eugene’s recent interviews.

In it, he noted that in “Carolina” they do not expect him to work as an “ice plumber”, but want him to be himself.