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ST. PAUL, Minn. — Whether it’s taking his parents and girlfriend to his favorite downtown Minneapolis stomping ground, Billy’s Sushi, or devouring the borscht and Russian dumplings his mom has been making, perhaps the secret to Kirill Kaprizov’s monthlong success has been that the Wild star has been well fed.

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“More energy,” Kaprizov joked Thursday after his latest three-point performance as he one-upped Edmonton Oilers superstars Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl during a 5-3 victory at Xcel Energy Center.

Because of the pandemic, Kaprizov couldn’t play in front of his parents when he won Rookie of the Year two years ago. Last season, his parents could come only for a week to see a couple of home games, and their son put on a show during All-Star weekend in Las Vegas.

But for the past month, Kaprizov’s parents, Oleg and Natalia, and girlfriend, Stesha, have been on a temporary visa and staying with Kaprizov at his Minneapolis home. It has to get awfully lonely for Kaprizov with his family halfway around the world, but he smiled wide when asked about his parents after the Wild won for the fourth time in five games.

“It’s nice we’ve put together wins and scored goals and do well,” Kaprizov said, beaming. “Parents here, (so) it’s fun. Coming to game, how I play, how team played, a lot of food.”

Kirill Kaprizov ties the game at 2-2 on the power, 14th goal of the season by Kirill Kaprizov on the nice feed from Matt Boldy #mnwild pic.twitter.com/JnsqMCWGIY

— Alex Micheletti (@AlexMicheletti) December 2, 2022

On a night when the Wild got the Oilers on the second of a back-to-back after Oilers coach Jay Woodcroft decided the roll the dice on Thursday’s game by loading up McDavid, Draisaitl, Darnell Nurse and Zach Hyman with an obscene amount of ice time the night before in Chicago, the Wild rallied from a pair of one-goal deficits and took advantage of a team that glaringly lacked legs.

The Wild defended magnificently (gave up 21 shots and three high-danger chances at five-on-five, according to Natural Stat Trick), got secondary scoring from the likes of Freddy Gaudreau and Joel Eriksson Ek (16 goals in the past five games from players not named Kaprizov) and a dominant effort from the top line of Kaprizov-Sam Steel–Mats Zuccarello (three goals, three assists, 76-percent Corsi For, 19-6 shot attempts at five-on-five in 12:12 of ice time).

FREDDY GAUDREAU, OH MY WORD. 3-2 MIN. pic.twitter.com/j1iuLzDa8a

— Hockey Wilderness (@hockeywildernes) December 2, 2022

Kaprizov scored a goal and had two assists to extend his career-best point streak to 10 games (six goals and 17 points) and break the franchise record with a nine-game assist streak. The goal scorer, coming off a franchise-record 47 goals and 108 points last season, now has 100 assists in 158 games. He simply can do it all and often seems to rise to the occasion when he faces the McDavids and Draisaitls of the world.

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“It’s the same work ethic every single night with this guy. Like every single night he works like that,” coach Dean Evason said. “Sometimes, he’s going to hit the wall because he’s playing 20 minutes. … We understand that. But he drives himself and drives himself and wants to lead the team by his work ethic.”

Because Kaprizov plays with a fourth-line grinder’s mentality, the scoring chances come for him and his linemates. It’s how he assisted on Eriksson Ek’s tying power-play goal in the second period, scored a tying goal himself seven seconds into a power play off a neat, in-tight give-and-go with Matt Boldy and helped create his pal Zuccarello’s third-period goal.

Joel Eriksson Ek pounds home the Kirill Kaprizov rebound shot to tie the game at 1-1 on the power play #mnwild pic.twitter.com/xoPRaKmQKU

— Alex Micheletti (@AlexMicheletti) December 2, 2022

Steel, especially, has been the beneficiary of playing between Kaprizov and Zuccarello. He scored his third goal in five games — the eventual winning goal — by catching up to Zuccarello’s terrific lead pass, then showing those silky-smooth hands that earned him a first-round selection once upon a time with the Anaheim Ducks.

“Right from the start it was a big opportunity,” Steel said. “I’d like to think that I earned it there and it wasn’t just something that they throw me in there just to see. (Kaprizov and Zuccarello) make it easy to play with and we had a good night tonight. But I think we’ve been working in the right direction. So it’s nice to get rewarded.”

A silky pass followed by a silky finish from Sam Steel 👀 pic.twitter.com/BEHfiBbcN1

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) December 2, 2022

Let’s be honest, though. With Ryan Hartman hurt, the Wild tried just about every center there until landing on Steel. On a team shallow up the middle beyond Eriksson Ek, Steel is making the most of the golden opportunity.

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“Sure, had we tried different people to play with them? Yeah,” Evason said. “But it wasn’t our decision. It was Sam Steel’s decision to go there because he deserved to go because he played so well. He kept playing better and better and better. Eventually it’s like, ‘Who’s playing the best?’ Sam is playing the best.”

Draisaitl and McDavid each scored goals Thursday, with Draisaitl’s coming on a power play and Draisaitl setting McDavid up for an easy two-on-one when they got on the ice against the Wild’s top line, not the reunited GREEF Line.

Despite McDavid nemesis Jonas Brodin missing the game with an upper-body injury (Evason says his injury isn’t as bad as initially anticipated and he’ll at least travel on the upcoming four-game trip), Jordan Greenway-Eriksson Ek-Marcus Foligno did a terrific job at five-on-five against McDavid, who played 27 minutes in Chicago, and Draisaitl, who played 26. Against McDavid’s line at even strength, Eriksson Ek logged 11:04 and helped hold them to three shots and a 0.17 expected goals rate.

“I think we really (bore) down,” said Eriksson Ek, who has a four-game point streak and nine points in his past six games, including four two-point games. “We know that they have special players across us. Just limited time and space for them and try to play above them.”

Marc-Andre Fleury made 18 saves and passed Tony Esposito for fourth all time (24,771). But he lauded the Wild’s commitment to defense, holding Edmonton to six first-period shots and 10 through 40 minutes. Fleury’s best save of the game came on a third-period power play when he robbed Ryan Nugent-Hopkins twice, once with the blocker, to keep the Oilers from cutting the Wild’s deficit to one.

“As a goalie those are the ones I like,” Fleury said, smiling. “It makes me feel good.”

Save of the night by Marc Andre Fleury on Ryan Nugent Hopkins, just brilliant, keeps it a 4-2 #mnwild lead, the Goalkeeper was the best penalty killer pic.twitter.com/MHaa7pBFKB

— Alex Micheletti (@AlexMicheletti) December 2, 2022

This was the first meeting of three with the Oilers in a seven-game span. The Wild usually have their way with the Oilers. Their 59 wins against them are their most against any team. Their 128 points and 31 home wins are their second-most against any franchise. Their 28 road wins are their most against any franchise.

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So playing the Oilers so much coming up may bode well for the Wild, who now hope to get on a run and get out of a win-two, lose-one mode after meandering through the first quarter of this season. They look to close their seven-game homestand with their first three-game winning streak of the season Saturday against Anaheim.

The Wild have power-play goals in four consecutive games and are 6-for-13 (46.1 percent) in that stretch. Their penalty kill is 33-for-37 (89.1 percent) in the past 11 games. They’re starting to get improved secondary scoring beyond Kaprizov, Zuccarello and Boldy. They’ve defended exceptionally for a month. They’re getting quality goaltending.

So, things are starting to move in the right direction.

But “we need to win some games now,” Evason said matter-of-factly. “We need to put some games together. We need to have some separation now. We can’t just play a good game and then fall off and make some mistakes, turn pucks over and give teams an opportunity. We have to continue to do what we’re doing and what we did tonight to string wins together.”

Or, as Kaprizov said, “When you start winning, when the team starts winning, your game comes easier, you play better, you score more. Everything starts working well when you do that. That’s kind of what’s happening right now.”

It helps that Kaprizov’s belly is full.

(Photo of Kirill Kaprizov celebrating his goal against Edmonton: David Berding / Getty Images)

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