The Minnesota Wild were 5-2 up on the St. Louis Blues with 4:31 left at Grand Casino Arena on Thursday when Kirill Kaprizov went chasing a loose puck around the boards behind the St. Louis net. Joel Hofer came out to meet him.
The Blues goaltender stepped off his line and put Kaprizov into the boards, where the league’s leading goal scorer folded on impact and stayed down for the best part of a minute. Hofer was called for interference. Kaprizov took one more shift and then headed down the tunnel.
Nobody watching thought much of it.
“Just blatantly obvious looking to make contact with Kaprizov. Ended up being dangerous too,” one fan wrote.
“This is bush league. Players leave the goalie alone outside of the crease so they never expect it to happen back to them,” said another.
One came at it from behind the mask. “I’m a goalie and I hate this s***. You cannot ask to be protected when leaving the crease if you’re taking liberties on players. Non-contact needs to go both ways, lest you end up getting pasted to the boards by the next forechecker.”
That view had company at the other end of the rink. Wild goaltender Jesper Wallstedt called it a dirty play when asked about it afterwards.
Is Kirill Kaprizov injured?
The early signs were better than the incident looked. Matt Boldy and Quinn Hughes both said after the game that the winger was doing well, and the concern level around the club appeared low despite initial worries about a head injury. Michael Russo reported that Kaprizov was in the medical room when reporters were let into the dressing room.
READ MORE: Brady Tkachuk got away with two penalties before his first goal
Minnesota could not have absorbed another one. The Wild went into Thursday with seven players already injured, including Jared Spurgeon and Brock Faber.
Kaprizov had a goal and two assists on five shots in 22:52 before leaving, taking him to nine goals and five assists through eight games. St. Louis then scored shorthanded 31 seconds after the penalty and again with 15 seconds remaining, turning a comfortable evening into a 5-4 finish.
Read more:
