The Minnesota Wild became the fastest franchise in NHL history to reach 1,000 regular season wins on Friday night, beating the San Jose Sharks 4-1 at Grand Casino Arena in St. Paul in the 1,995th game in team history. The milestone is recorded in the official game notes of NHL.com’s recap of the game, and it beats the previous mark held by the Philadelphia Flyers, who needed 2,018 games.
Kirill Kaprizov made sure the record night had a headline performance attached to it. He scored his league leading 16th goal of the season and added three assists, factoring in on every Minnesota goal, as the Wild won their third straight game and improved to 12-3-3, the best record in the Western Conference.
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Kaprizov runs the record night
Kaprizov opened the scoring at 7:55 of the first period on a 5-on-3 power play, scoring five hole with a one timer from the right circle off a cross ice pass from Quinn Hughes for his league leading 16th goal, according to NHL.com’s game recap. Macklin Celebrini tied the game 1-1 at 12:11 of the second period, redirecting a Dmitry Orlov shot past Jesper Wallstedt, but Minnesota answered two minutes later when Maxim Shabanov tapped in a backdoor pass from Kaprizov on another power play at 14:15.
Hughes extended the lead to 3-1 at 6:54 of the third period, shaking off Celebrini and roofing a wrist shot past Yaroslav Askarov, and Zach Bogosian closed the scoring at 13:58 with his first goal of the season, a slap shot off a rebound along the right boards. Kaprizov’s three assists gave him a hand in all four goals. He now has 13 points, five goals and eight assists, during a seven game point streak, and the Wild are 10-1-1 this season when he scores and 10-0-3 when they score first. Wallstedt made 23 saves for Minnesota, while Askarov made 25 for San Jose.
“Can’t say it enough, I just feel like we can tilt the ice when they’re out there. There have been games where I feel like we’ve completely dominated.”
That was Hughes on Minnesota’s top line of Kaprizov, Matt Boldy and Joel Eriksson Ek, in quotes carried by NHL.com. Kaprizov kept his own assessment simpler, saying the line just tries to play smart and get the puck into the offensive zone.
A record built in 1,995 games
The historical weight of the night sits in the comparison. Minnesota reached 1,000 regular season wins in 1,995 games, 23 games faster than the Flyers managed it, and the Nashville Predators needed 2,020 games when they reached the mark in January 2025, as Daily Faceoff’s record report sets out. The Wild entered the league as an expansion franchise in the 2000-01 season and reached the Western Conference Final in just their third season, a stage they have not returned to since.
The franchise record book underlines how Kaprizov has become the face of this era of it. He is already the Wild’s all time leader with 246 goals, and he has 505 points in 415 career games. The longevity marks still belong to Mikko Koivu, the captain for 11 seasons, who holds the franchise records for games played with 1,028, assists with 504 and points with 709. A team that began in 2000 reaching four figures in wins faster than any club before it is a story about sustained competence finally meeting a genuine superstar era.
Hughes quietly took a piece of history of his own. His goal and two assists made this his 100th career multi-assist game in 525 games played, the fourth fastest by a defenceman in NHL history, behind only Bobby Orr at 437 games, Paul Coffey at 459 and Denis Potvin at 511, per the game notes in NHL.com’s recap. Even the visiting coach conceded the quality on the other side.
“He’s one of the best defensemen in the League. Kirill is one of the most elite offensive players in the League. Those guys have played together for numerous years now, and they feel like they have great chemistry.”
Two teams moving in opposite directions
Minnesota coach John Hynes praised his team’s mindset afterwards, saying he liked the intentions the Wild played with against a desperate opponent. The Sharks were desperate for a reason: San Jose has lost four straight games and six of its last seven to fall to 7-10-1, and the defeat came two days after a players only meeting that followed a 7-2 loss at the Los Angeles Kings. Coach Ryan Warsofsky said his team worked harder and reloaded quicker than in recent games, but the Sharks still could not hold the game after Celebrini’s equalizer.
Minnesota, meanwhile, is 6-0-1 in its past seven games with 27 points, the top mark in the Western Conference and the second best record in the NHL. The cost of the night was forward Michael McCarron, who left in the third period with an undisclosed injury and is questionable for the next game against the Tampa Bay Lightning. For one night in St. Paul, though, the story was bigger than the standings: a 26 year old franchise reached a four figure win total faster than any team in league history, and its best player authored the performance to match it.
