Kaprizov Ties Draisaitl for NHL Goals Lead — and It's No Fluke

While Russia slept, a quiet hunt for the season's top scorer continued in Minnesota. After the Wild's 5-1 win over Seattle on Saturday, October 24, Kirill Kaprizov, with twelve goals, drew level with Edmonton's Leon Draisaitl and shares the top spot in the goal-scoring race. He scored almost immediately — 26 seconds after the opening whistle.

How it all began. On October 11 in Florida, Kaprizov scored a hat trick — goals in the 7th, 26th and 59th minutes of a 4-1 win. On the 18th, at home against Columbus, his tenth goal of the season was the game-winner (2-1) and put the Russian first in the league. By October 21, according to Daily Faceoff, he had 11 goals in ten games. The league named him its third star of the week.

The numbers matter more here than fine words: twelve goals by the end of October is not a burst from one good game but a steady run that includes a hat trick, a game-winning power-play goal and an early goal on the road. And considering Kaprizov's huge contract, the Wild are getting exactly what they pay for. To be honest, though, my search turned up no fresh reports from October 28–29, so I can't vouch for Minnesota's last two games — check the current goal totals on nhl.com. The next checkpoint is November 1, when Minnesota travels to face Ovechkin's Washington.