OREANDA-NEWS. Minnesota Russian forward Kirill Kaprizov scored a goal and an assist in the National Hockey League (NHL) regular season home game against Arizona. The meeting ended in a 5-2 win for the home team.

Joel Eriksson Ek, Kirill Kaprizov, Jordan Greenway, Jonas Brodin and Marcus Foligno scored for the winners.

Kaprizov scored on 28 minutes to make the score 2-1. In the 40th minute, he gave a goal to Joonas Brodin who scored Minnesota's fourth goal.

The Russian scored points for the third straight game (2+5), Minnesota won for the fourth time in a row. It was his and the team's third such performance of the season.

Kaprizov, last year's NHL MVP, had a total of seven goals and 18 assists in the current campaign. He is considered the team's leading scorer.

The Russian was selected by Minnesota in the fifth round in 2015 with the 135th overall pick. He made his NHL debut in 2020.

On 22 September, the team from St Paul signed the Russian forward to a five-year contract worth a total of $45m. The forward became the team's highest-paid player.

For the losers, Clayton Keller and Anton Strohlman were credited with the goals. Defenseman Ilya Lyubushkin played 16:01 and finished the game with a utility rating of -2.

Minnesota is second in the NHL Central Division standings with 31 points in 22 games; Arizona is last with 12 points in 23 games.

Minnesota takes on New Jersey on December 3, while Arizona plays Vegas at home one day later.