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Kraken outlast Wild 4-3 in final regular-season game for non-playoff teams

Thu, Apr 18, 2024
NHL News (AP)

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - Tye Kartye tipped in a slap shot by Oliver Bjorkstrand for the tiebreaking goal with 2:40 remaining, and the Seattle Kraken beat the Minnesota Wild 4-3 on Thursday night to wrap up the regular season for two teams that missed the playoffs.

Ryan Hartman scored 6-on-4 on a power play for the Wild with 1:05 left and goalie Marc-Andre Fleury pulled, but Kraken goalie Joey Daccord - who had 21 saves - and the defense held up.

Brandon Tanev, who assisted on both of Yanni Gourde's third period goals, painfully blocked a shot in the final seconds that had him doubled over on the ice at the final horn.

Kirill Kaprizov scored his 46th goal of the season on a power play in the first period, and Mats Zuccarello had the tying goal midway through the third period for the Wild.

Matty Beniers tied the game for the Kraken in the second period on a power play tip-in before Gourde's short-handed breakaway. He later scored on an empty-netter.

Beniers, the second overall pick in the 2021 draft, dropped to 15 goals and 37 points this season after the first-line center had 24 goals and 57 points in 2022-23.

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Kaprizov finished with 96 points this season after a slow start, by far the second-most in franchise history behind his 105 points in 2021-22 when he had 47 goals and 61 assists to set the all-time Wild marks in all three categories. Kevin Fiala is third with 85 points in 2021-22.

When Kraken leading scorer Jared McCann made a blind pass away from the boards toward teammate Will Borgen, Kaprizov intercepted it and flicked an unobstructed wrist shot past Daccord to give the Wild an early lead.

The Wild have had five 40-goal scorers in their 23-season history, including Kaprizov three times. Eric Staal (2017-18) and Marian Gaborik (2007-08) were the others.

Daccord had a strong season for the Kraken, but after upsetting 2022 champion Colorado in the first round of the playoffs last spring, the club took a step backward. They and the Wild were in a crowd of teams in the mix for the Western Conference wild-card spots, but they were eliminated seven games ago.

The Wild were ousted from contention five games ago, missing the postseason for just the second time in 12 years. Fleury, who signed a $2.5 million contract extension to return for next season and received the Wild's nomination for the King Clancy Memorial Trophy, the NHL's annual leadership and philanthropy award, was one bright spot. He passed Patrick Roy for second place on the all-time wins list in January.

The 39-year-old was presented with the Wild's Tom Kurvers Humanitarian Award on the ice before the game, honoring his leadership on and off the ice. Kurvers, an assistant general manager for the Wild, died in 2021 of cancer.

For all the fuss made over Fleury this year, he has quickly pointed to his absence from the playoffs - for the first time since 2006 - as the overriding theme of the season.

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DAVE CAMPBELL Campbell is a sports reporter for The Associated Press, based in Minneapolis. He has covered all of the major teams in Minnesota as well as stories of national interest for the AP since 2000. twitter "

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