The Wild, in Dallas without Kirill Kaprizov, come suddenly to life and earn 3-2 victory in OT

Sarah McLellan, Star Tribune on Dec 27, 2024

Published in Hockey

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DALLAS — The Wild finally defeated the Stars and without their best player.

Kirill Kaprizov was sidelined Friday with a lower-body injury, but the Wild rallied for a 3-2 victory in overtime in his absence at American Airlines Center to end a four-game skid to their Central Division rivals that was a seven-game rut when factoring in their first-round playoff series from two seasons ago.

Brock Faber broke a 2-2 tie just 34 seconds into 3-on-3 overtime after the Wild scored twice in the third period to overcome a tepid display through the first 40 minutes.

Jonas Brodin started the comeback at 10:36 when he buried a cross-zone feed from Mats Zuccarello, who received a two-hand push up ice from Faber as the Wild stormed into Dallas territory. Then just 57 seconds later, Marcus Foligno tipped in a shot from captain Jared Spurgeon to send both teams back to square one — what looked like a pipe dream based on how the Wild started, the momentum they might have built from a 4-3, slump-busting win over the Blackhawks on Monday appearing to get lost over their holiday layoff.

They returned without Kaprizov after he went into the break sore and banged up, coach John Hynes said.

Kaprizov, whose 23 goals are tied for second in the NHL and 50 points are tied for fourth, is considered day to day. He missed one other game last month after a knee-on-knee hit from the Oilers’ Drake Caggiula, but Kaprizov’s current issue isn’t related to that injury.

The Wild were also without Joel Eriksson Ek, Jakub Lauko and Jake Middleton, with Eriksson Ek (lower body) skating Friday in Minnesota and Lauko (lower body) and Middleton (upper body) progressing.

For the past six weeks, the Wild have been tested by injuries, and although the buffer they established in the standings with their early-season soar has deteriorated some, they’ve remained mostly competitive.

But they struggled to find that moxie against the Stars.

At 9:52 of the first period, Wyatt Johnston sprung Evgenii Dadonov, who split the Wild defense before skating in alone and wiring the puck by goalie Filip Gustavsson (27 saves).

Dallas finished that period with 14 shots compared to four for the Wild, who didn’t fare any better in the second.

They botched their first and only power play, with the Stars playing keep-away in the Wild’s zone; once the Wild regained possession, they iced the puck. Dallas, despite playing most of the night down a forward after Mason Marchment got hit in the face by a deflected puck during the first period and didn’t return, doubled its lead at 15:08 on a Johnston shot from the slot that Dadonov set up. That was the Stars’ 19th puck on net, while the Wild had six.

The Wild’s closest calls to date came in the final minute of the second when Yakov Trenin smacked a shot into the side of the net instead of an open side while Jake Oettinger was out of position; seconds later, a Foligno redirect hit the post. Oettinger finished with 15 saves.

But the Wild, which went an impressive 3 for 3 on the penalty kill, saved their best for last, their 57-second turnaround paving the way for Faber’s first career overtime goal and their first multigoal third-period comeback win on the road since Nov. 6, 2021, when they prevailed 5-4 in a shootout at Pittsburgh.