Kaprizov's Hat Trick Headlines a Wild 12-Game Saturday Night in the NHL

SUNRISE, Fla.

The Panthers were the last team in the league to play their home opener, and Minnesota made sure it wasn't a party. Kirill Kaprizov torched Florida for his seventh career hat trick and added an assist, Matt Boldy scored 53 seconds into the game, and the Wild rolled to a 4-1 win that handed the Panthers their first regulation loss in five games this season.

Kaprizov now has six goals in five games, and Minnesota is an absurd 42-5-2 all-time when he records at least three points — he's done it 49 times, the most in franchise history by a mile. Jesper Wallstedt stopped 29 of 30 shots and has now started all five Wild games (3-1-1, .935 save percentage). Matthew Tkachuk scored Florida's only goal, stuffing home his own rebound for his team-leading third of the season. The Panthers were 0-for-5 on the power play and are now 1-for-28 with the man advantage to start the year — and they're doing it without Aleksander Barkov and Brad Marchand. Something's off in Sunrise, and the standings (2-1-2) are starting to show it.

Also of note from that one: Wild forward Rieger Lorenz made his NHL debut. The 22-year-old Calgary native was Minnesota's second-round pick in 2022. Tough building for a debut — tougher when Kaprizov decides to take over.

Over in Newark, Nico Hischier picked a milestone night to break out of an early-season slump. The Devils captain scored twice on the power play — the first was his 200th career goal, making him the fifth Swiss player to reach the mark — and added an assist in a 4-1 win over Vancouver. Jesper Bratt had a goal and an assist, Jack Hughes had two helpers, and Jesper Boqvist chipped in a goal off a rebound created by rookie Amadeus Lombardi, who recorded his first NHL point. Jake Allen made 20 saves to win his 500th career game.

It was a weird afternoon in net for the Canucks. Starter Leevi Merilainen left with 5:27 remaining in the first period when his skate blade detached from his boot — equipment malfunction, pure and simple — forcing Kevin Lankinen in for the rest of the frame. Merilainen returned for the second. Linus Karlsson scored Vancouver's only goal on the power play, and the Canucks have now lost three straight while getting outscored 14-5. Paul Cotter, the NHL's third star of the week, went pointless against his former team. New Jersey went 3-for-4 on the power play after entering the day as one of the league's lowest-scoring teams. Funny how a milestone night fixes things.

In Edmonton, the Oilers kept rolling with a 3-1 win over San Jose — their fourth straight victory and points in all five games. Vasily Podkolzin scored his fifth of the year, Mattias Ekholm and Alex Formenton also found the net, and Connor McDavid picked up his 10th assist of the season — he's up to 13 points in five games. Tristan Jarry stopped 19 shots. The Sharks' lone goal came from captain Macklin Celebrini, his first of the season in his return from a lower-body injury. San Jose is going to be a problem this year; they just ran into a buzzsaw.

The goaltending theater of the night was in Pittsburgh. Jake Oettinger arrived with shutouts in his previous two starts and a shutout streak of 188:52 — the longest of his career and the third-longest in Stars history — and Connor Dewar ended it early in the third, gliding to the slot for a backhand that fluttered in off a Dallas stick. Tyler Seguin tied it at 1-1 with 30 seconds left in regulation, his first goal since last November, and the Penguins took it in the shootout 2-1 behind Arturs Silovs' 24 saves and shootout goals from Ben Kindel, Sidney Crosby and Rickard Rakell. Pittsburgh snapped a three-game skid; Dallas still got a point out of a night its offense mostly no-showed.

Boston kept the misery going in Philadelphia with a 5-1 drubbing that leaves the Flyers winless at 0-4-2. Fraser Minten had a goal and two assists — the 22-year-old signed a seven-year extension in September and is up to five points in six games — Pavel Zacha scored his first of the season, and Mason Lohrei, Marat Khusnutdinov and Casey Mittelstadt all lit the lamp. JJ Peterka had two assists and Jeremy Swayman needed only 14 saves. Porter Martone's power-play goal was all Philadelphia could muster, and the Flyers played without Travis Konecny (lower body) and Cam York (upper body). Shots were 32-15. That's not a hockey game, that's a warning.

The defending champion Hurricanes did champion things in Chicago, beating the Blackhawks 5-2 behind a goal and an assist apiece from Jackson Blake and Jordan Martinook. Mark Jankowski scored on a breakaway — he's scored in three straight games for the first time in his 11-year career — and Sebastian Aho and former Blackhawk Taylor Hall also scored. Brandon Bussi made 24 saves. Chicago's highlight was Roman Kantserov's first career NHL goal, a breakaway beauty for the 2023 second-rounder, but the Hawks are 1-5 and got outshot 39-26.

The shootout was busy elsewhere too. Ottawa edged Nashville 3-2 as Shane Pinto tied it late in the third and then scored the shootout winner — Ross Colton and Jonathan Marchessault had given the Predators a 2-0 first-period lead before it slipped away. Montreal and Detroit played 65 scoreless minutes before the Canadiens took a 1-0 shootout win at the Bell Centre, Montreal's first victory after three straight losses; Cole Caufield even had a "ghost goal" waved off on review early. Tampa Bay beat the Islanders 5-3, Utah bounced back to beat Buffalo 4-1 behind 23 saves from Karel Vejmelka (Kailer Yamamoto had two points), St. Louis topped Columbus 5-3 behind Jimmy Snuggerud and Dylan Holloway, and Toronto outgunned Colorado 6-3 as Auston Matthews and William Nylander each scored twice and Nathan MacKinnon answered with two of his own for the Avalanche.

Still to come: Anaheim at Calgary and Los Angeles at Vegas, both 10 p.m. ET starts, were underway as this published. We'll fold those finals into the next cycle.

For the full morning slate and how the day started, check this morning's NHL daily roundup.