Wild stars Kaprizov, Eriksson Ek return just in time to brighten a playoff picture
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ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — The scoring punch the Minnesota Wild have been sorely lacking made a timely and triumphant appearance, following the long-awaited return of vital forwards Joel Eriksson Ek and Kirill Kaprizov from their long-term injuries.
Those goals that were stranded with them in the trainer's room emerged with abundance, suddenly putting the Wild's bid for the NHL playoffs in much better shape than it was just five days ago.
Eriksson Ek scored a career-high four times in the 8-7 thriller over San Jose on Wednesday befitting of the Wild's ambiguous nickname. Kaprizov scored twice, including the overtime winner.
“If you take any team’s two best players away, that’s a huge difference and such an impact that those guys have in every aspect of us playing well,” said Matt Boldy, whose 26 goals and 45 assists lead the club. "For them to work as hard as they did throughout these weeks they’ve been out, and then to come back and perform like that, it speaks a lot to them and their character.”
Minnesota (43-29-7) would clinch a spot in the postseason by winning on Friday at Calgary (37-27-14), the only team below the eight-team cut in the Western Conference that's still alive. What's more, the Wild have regained control from St. Louis (43-30-7) of the first of the two wild-card berths after a recent 12-game winning streak by the Blues had pushed the Wild to the brink.
Already a team built this season around grit more than goals, the dual absence of Eriksson Ek and Kaprizov was particularly and predictably pressing on a forward group that lacks depth in light of the Wild's salary cap constraints of the last two years.
Kaprizov, who was playing like an MVP award candidate, with 23 goals and 27 assists in his first 34 games, missed 40 of 43 games with his unspecified lower-body injury, which required surgery in late January. Eriksson Ek, the first-line center whose net-front presence and two-way contributions were just as irreplaceable, was sidelined for 21 games with his injury. A handful of other key players were in and out during that stretch, too.
“Our team stuck together, grinded, grinded, trying to get points along the way, and everybody’s stepping in trying their best,” goalie Marc-Andre Fleury said. “But it’s definitely nice to get those guys back and seeing what they can do. Kirill’s shot is so good, and Ekky is always such a big presence in front of the net.”
The Wild are just 26th in the league in goals per game (2.75) this season, but since Dec. 27 — the date of Kaprizov's first missed game — they're the third-worst (2.59), according to Sportradar data. All Eriksson Ek and Kaprizov could do was watch — and work on their rehab.
“Some days you get frustrated. You want to be out there. You want to help the team. So you have your ups and downs,” Eriksson Ek said. "I think emotionally it was really good to have someone to talk to. For him, too, I think he felt — or hopefully it was — pretty nice to have someone kind of on the same timeline and just doing the same.”
As evidenced by the seven goals allowed to the Sharks, who are third-to-last in the NHL in goals per game this season, the Wild are far from fixed. Their penalty kill is 30th in the league with a 72.7% success rate.
But having Eriksson Ek and Kaprizov back in the lineup changes the whole dynamic.
“Those guys are workhorses," coach John Hynes said. "When they said that they’re going to be ready to play, you knew that they were going to be ready to play the way that they need to play.”
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