Kirill Kaprizov #97 of the Minnesota Wild and Brenden Dillon #5 of the Winnipeg Jets follow the play down the ice during second period action at the Canada Life Centre on March 8, 2023 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. ((Photo by Darcy Finley/NHLI via Getty Images))
MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - The Minnesota Wild will be without its top scorer for the foreseeable future as they fight for positioning in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The Wild announced Thursday afternoon that star winger Kirill Kaprizov will be out three to four weeks with a lower body injury. Kaprizov suffered the injury during the third period of Wednesday night's 4-2 win over the Winnipeg Jets after getting tangled up with Logan Stanley.
He was able to skate to the bench, but did not return to the game. Wild coach Dean Evason had cautious optimism after the game.
"He was able to skate off, so I guess if there’s a positive that was one of them," Evason said.
Kaprizov leads the Wild with 74 points, and 39 goals, and has played in all 65 games this season. Kaprizov also represented the Wild at the NHL All-Star Game.
Marcus Foligno had a goal and an assist, and the Wild got goals from Freddy Gaudreau, Ryan Hartman and Mason Shaw in Wednesday's win. Marc-Andre Fleury made 46 saves as the Wild is now 9-0-2 in its last 11 games.
The Wild now has points in 11 straight games and improved to 37-21-7. They’re tied with the Dallas Stars for the No. 3 spot in the Western Conference at 81 points, and tied with the stars atop the Central Division.
The Kaprizov news is a significant blow to the Wild, with 17 regular season games to play. The injury timeline puts Kaprizov out for the rest of March, but potentially back before the regular season ends in mid-April.
Including the playoffs, Kaprizov has played 214 out of 216 possible games over three seasons.