Kaprizov has 4-point night, Wild top Panthers 4-1 to spoil Florida’s home opener

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Kirill Kaprizov had three goals and an assist, Matt Boldy scored his first goal of the season in the game’s first minute, and the Minnesota Wild spoiled Florida’s home opener by beating the Panthers 4-1 on Saturday night.

Wild goaltender Jesper Wallstedt continued his hot start, stopping 29 shots. Wallstedt has been in net for all five of Minnesota’s games so far, going 3-1-1 with a .936 save percentage and a stingy goals-against average of just 1.78.

Boldy gave the Wild the lead 53 seconds into the game. Kaprizov made it 2-0 with 13:42 left in the opening period, added his second 5 minutes into the middle frame, and finished his hat trick on an empty-netter with 1:04 left.

Matthew Tkachuk had the goal for Florida (2-1-2), putting home his own rebound for his team-leading third score of the season. The Panthers — who are without Aleksander Barkov and Brad Marchand — have just nine goals in the season’s first five games and have led for a total of 8 minutes, 40 seconds in that span.

Jacob Markstrom stopped 25 shots for Florida. The Panthers were 0 for 5 on the power play and are now 1 for 28 on the man advantage to start the season.

The Wild improved to 42-5-2 all-time when Kaprizov has at least three points. He’s done it 49 times for the Wild, by far the most in franchise history.

Florida was the last team to play its home opener this season. Each of the first five Panthers games were home openers; Carolina, San Jose, Anaheim and Los Angeles all began their home schedules with games against Florida.

The game was the 807th for Florida defenseman Aaron Ekblad, breaking a tie with Barkov for the most by a Panthers player.

Up next

Wild: Host Vegas on Monday night.

Panthers: Visit Buffalo on Monday afternoon.

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