ST. PAUL, Minn. — Rookie standout Kirill Kaprizov has been dazzling lately as a goal scorer, but he reminded everyone on Saturday that he's also a skilled playmaker.
After scoring in overtime the night before, Kaprizov's encore included two slick passes before the Wild needed overtime to once again outlast the Ducks, 4-3, during the team's regular-season home finale.
The Wild finished 21-5-2 at Xcel Energy Center.
Victor Rask scored with 2 minutes, 14 seconds left in overtime, spoiling Anaheim goalie Ryan Miller's final game of his NHL career, after Max Comtois tied the game at 3 with 26 seconds left in the third period to send the Wild to their fifth overtime finish in the last six games.
Miller is retiring, exiting the league as the all-time NHL leader in wins among U.S.-born goalies with 391. He's also the only player in hockey history to be named the top goaltender in the NCAA, American Hockey League, Winter Olympics and NHL.
After the game, Wild players lined up to shake hands with Miller, whose family was on hand at Xcel Energy Center. Miller made 21 saves against the Wild.
Miller was sharp early, and the Ducks went ahead 1-0 at 12:02 of the first period when Rickard Rakell deflected a a Josh Mahura point shot by Wild goalie Cam Talbot.
Before the period was up, the Wild tied Anaheim at the tail end of a four-minute power play after Joel Eriksson Ek was high-sticked. Kaprizov took a Kevin Fiala feed into the offensive zone and skated toward the net before dropping the puck to captain Jared Spurgeon for a redirect that rolled by Miller.
The goal was Spurgeon's ninth point in as many games, and Kaprizov hit the 50-point plateau with the assist while pushing his point streak to a career-high six games. Kaprizov has five goals and five assists during that run, and he's the first Wild rookie to record three point streaks of five-plus games in a single season. The last NHLer to accomplish the feat was Vancouver's Elias Pettersson in 2018-19.
As for Fiala, his assist was his eighth point over his last six games and gave him 40 points on the year.
Overall, the Wild went 1 for 4 with the man advantage and the Ducks were 0 for 1.
That 1-1 tie hung around until Kaprizov set up the Wild's second goal of the night.
This time, he passed to Ryan Hartman on a 2-on-1 break that Hartman buried 15:05 into the second period. That helper extended Kaprizov's multi-point game streak to four, another Wild rookie record. Aside from scoring in overtime on Friday in the Wild's 4-3 win, Kaprizov also assisted on the team's first goal.
Kaprizov finished the week with four goals and two assists in four games.
On the very next shift after Hartman's goal, the Wild doubled their lead when the fourth line capitalized for a second straight game.
Nico Sturm found Nick Bonino in the slot with a raised stick, and Bonino slapped the puck by Miller at 15:56 for his 16th point over his past 14 games.
Just 2:18 into the third, the Ducks ate into that deficit when Trevor Zegras' shot from the wing flew by Talbot.
And then with 26 seconds left in the third and Miller on the bench for an extra attacker, Comtois extended the action with his shot.
Talbot totaled 19 saves to go 12-2-2 in the regular season at Xcel Energy Center during his debut with the Wild.
Anaheim finished its season at the bottom of the West Division at 17-30-9.
As for the Wild, their season doesn't have an expiration date.
The team will play two more regular-season contests, a back-to-back starting Wednesday against the Blues in St. Louis.
After that, the playoffs begin with the Wild's first-round opponent most likely Vegas or Colorado.
