Kaprizov breaks franchise career goals record in Wild's 5-1 win over Lightning
Minnesota Wild defenseman Brock Faber (7) celebrates with left wing Marcus Johansson (90) and center Joel Eriksson Ek (14) after scoring during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the Tampa Bay Lightning, Tuesday, March 3, 2026, in St. Paul, Minn. Credit: AP/Bailey Hillesheim
ST. PAUL, Minn. — Kirill Kaprizov broke the franchise career goals record with 220, Mats Zuccarello, Brock Faber and Quinn Hughes each had a goal and assist and the Minnesota Wild beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 5-1 Tuesday night.
Kaprizov’s empty-netter, a backhander from center ice for his 35th of the season, pushed him past Marian Gaborik for the most in Wild history.
Yakov Trenin also scored to help Minnesota end a two-game slide and continue its home dominance of Tampa Bay. The Wild are 16-3-0 at home against the Lightning.
Matt Boldy added a season-high three assists, extending his points streak to a career-high-tying 10 games. Filip Gustavsson stopped 26 shots, improving to 5-1-0 in his past six starts.
Opening a four-game road trip, Tampa Bay got a goal from Nikita Kucherov but lost its third straight game after a 20-1-1 stretch. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 17 saves.
Hughes also scored in the third period, resulting in a brief “U-S-A! U-S-A-!" chant for the member of the recent gold-medal winning squad.
Trenin scored a fluky goal at 17:10 of the second period for a 3-1 Minnesota lead.
Minnesota Wild defenseman Quinn Hughes (43) skates with the puck while Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Erik Cernak (81) defends during the first period of an NHL hockey game, Tuesday, March 3, 2026, in St. Paul, Minn. Credit: AP/Bailey Hillesheim
Losing the puck as he tried to split a pair of defenders in the Lightning zone, Trenin finished his drive to the net and capitalized when Vasilevskiy struggled to cover the slow sliding puck.
Just over two minutes earlier, Kucherov completed a pretty passing play with Brayden Point and Jake Guentzel to get Tampa Bay on the board.
Faber scored less than four minutes into the game for a 1-0 lead. Zuccarello made it 2-0 with a 4-on-3 power-play goal early in the second period, the eighth straight game Minnesota has scored with the man advantage.
Up next
Lightning: At Winnipeg on Thursday night.
Minnesota Wild left wing Kirill Kaprizov (97) skates with the puck while Tampa Bay Lightning center Anthony Cirelli (71) during the first period of an NHL hockey game, Tuesday, March 3, 2026, in St. Paul, Minn. Credit: AP/Bailey Hillesheim
Wild: At Vegas on Friday night.
