Kirill Kaprizov simply wasn’t going to let the Wild lose. Not on this particular night. Not with the hopes and dreams of this season still hanging in the balance.

With the Wild in danger of falling 10 points out of the final playoff spot with 20 games remaining, Kaprizov netted a hat trick to lead the way in a 4-3 win over the lowly San Jose Sharks. He singlehandedly erased a deficit in the final frame on Sunday night at the Xcel Energy Center, then scored  the game winner for good measure.

The win helped the Wild (29-27-6, 64 points) stay within striking distance of the Los Angeles Kings (31-19-10, 72 points) and Nashville Predators (35-25-2, 72 points) for the the the final playoff spot, giving general manager Bill Guerin something to think about with the trade deadline slowly coming into focus.

After dominating play for much of the first period, the Wild had nothing to show for it. Much like in their loss to the St. Louis Blues about 24 hours earlier.

It started to go sideways for the Wild early in the second period as Sharks winger Mikael Granlund went top shelf on the power play to make it 1-0. It got worse from there for the Wild as winger Matt Boldy turned the puck over while on the power play and watched Sharks winger Nico Sturm score shorthanded on the other end to stretch the lead to 2-0.

That seemed to awaken the Wild.

On the very next shift, with the Wild still on the power play, Freddy Gaudreau quickly cut the deficit to 2-1. That energized the home crowd, less than 90 seconds later, star winger Kirill Kaprizov handled a stretch pass from fellow winger Mason Shaw and casually made it 2-2.

Though the Wild pushed hard to create some separation in the aftermath, they couldn’t find the back of the net. That came back to bit them in the third period as Sharks winger Anthony Duclair got loose on a partial breakaway and beat goaltender Filip Gustavsson glove side to make it 3-2.

Luckily for the Wild, they have Kaprizov, and he wasn’t going to let them lose. He carved out some open ice near the slot, then unleashed a perfectly placed slap shot on bended knee to level the score at 3-3. He scored again a few minutes later, finalizing his hat trick in the process.

Briefly

The lineup felt disjointed throughout the game as the Wild were without winger Marcus Johansson, who sat out due a lower-body injury, and winger Mats Zuccarello, who was a late scratch due to personal reasons. Though defenseman Dakota Mermis suited up in place of Zuccarello, he logged very limited ice tie.

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