Kaprizov, Hughes leading the charge for the Wild

The Minnesota Wild picked up another point on Tuesday, falling 4-3 in overtime to the Edmonton Oilers, and, unsurprisingly, the dynamic duo of Kirill Kaprizov and Quinn Hughes led the way.

The Wild are currently tied for first place in the Central Division with a 6-2-2 record and 14 points through 10 games. Kaprizov leads the entire NHL with 11 goals in 10 games, while Hughes is logging more ice time than ever as the Wild deal with a depleted defensive group.

On Wednesday’s edition of Daily Faceoff Live, Tyler Yaremchuk and Carter Hutton discussed the impact Minnesota’s two superstars have made in the early stages of the new season.

Tyler Yaremchuk: I know Minnesota is dealing with a slew of injuries on their back end — hey’re missing Faber, they’re missing Spurgeon, they’re even missing Olli Maatta, who they brought in to be a lower-lineup depth piece — and last night, Quinn Hughes played 31:18. He kind of got yelled off the ice in overtime, and he looked like he did not have any interest in coming off the ice in OT — maybe that’s why he was jonesing to jump on a little bit early. But this dynamic duo for Minnesota, even though it was a loss last night, I mean, they don’t get a point if it’s not for these guys. Kaprizov factored into two of the three goals; the third goal, Quinn Hughes got an assist on. They were all over the ice last night.

With all these injuries, if Minnesota didn’t have Quinn Hughes logging 30-plus on the blue line, and if they didn’t have Kirill Kaprizov leading the NHL in goals, I might add … man, it would be a totally different story in Minnesota, as well.

Carter Hutton: Yeah, it shows [Kaprizov’s] earning his money right now, right? With 11 goals in 10 games, being the X-factor, and this is kind of what we thought of this team — it was always going to be the question mark of depth. But they look good now when they start to get bodies back and they start to fill in the lineup.

Watch the full episode here: