Kirill Kaprizov ejected as rivalry with Drew Doughty intensifies; Wild lose to Kings 1-0

Kaprizov cross-checked Doughty in the face Tuesday night.
Kirill Kaprizov ejected as rivalry with Drew Doughty intensifies; Wild lose to Kings 1-0
Kirill Kaprizov ejected as rivalry with Drew Doughty intensifies; Wild lose to Kings 1-0 /

Kirill Kaprizov was ejected and facing a possible one-game suspension after receiving a match penalty in an incident that has fanned flames in his rivalry with Drew Doughty. 

In the big picture, the Wild lost to the L.A. Kings 1-0 Tuesday night, but the back-and-forth between Kaprizov and Doughty has garnered headlines as Kaprizov was kicked out of the game with just over 5 minutes left in the second period. 

Doughty, who called Kaprizov "overpaid" last year, took a cross-check to the face from Kaprizov at 14:48 of the second period. Kaprizov delivered the blow after taking a beating from Doughty and the Kings – without drawing a penalty – over the first 35 minutes of the game.  

Minnesota head coach Dean Evason noted after the game that Kaprizov was top-five in the NHL in drawing penalties last season, and those numbers are way down this year because, in his opinion, the officials aren't giving Kaprizov the calls that other stars typically get. 

“He’s getting cross-checked and mauled — he’s frustrated, right?” said Evason. “We’re all frustrated because it’s not taken care of. There’s rules and obviously we feel that there should be more penalties called on a player of his stature who has the puck all the time. It’s not happening.”

Evason is hopeful Kaprizov won't be suspended, arguing that he hit Doughty with his glove, not his stick.

“I don’t think he hit me with his glove,” Doughty said, via the Forum Report. “I’m not positive, I didn’t see a replay, but it felt like a stick. I mean, the intent I’m pretty sure was with the stick. I played him hard right before he did it, so he was frustrated, and it happens.”

Minnesota had one power play all game, which Evason referred to as a "joke." 

“Power plays. How about a couple of power plays for our team?” Evason said when asked about the Wild being shut out in back-to-back games. “I mean, one power play. Are you kidding me? And it was a token power play. It’s unbelievable. We don’t want to whine. But it’s a joke that we have one power play, and it’s for their guy holding our guy at the penalty box. So thank you. We got mauled at the end. We’re trying to score. We’re trying to get in and the whistle is gone. There’s no more calls.

“We’re trying to go through the neutral zone at the end and we’re just getting grabbed and held and bear-hugged. It’s ridiculous. Like, come on, we’ve got to have some balance to what we’re doing. You can’t go through a game like that and have one power play. There’s no way. No way.”

The Wild are back on the ice Wednesday night in Anaheim. 


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Joe Nelson
JOE NELSON

Title: Bring Me The Sports co-owner, editor Email: joe@bringmethenews.com Twitter: @JoeBMTN Education: Southwest Minnesota State University Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota Expertise: All things Minnesota sports Nelson has covered Minnesota sports for two decades, starting his media career in sports radio. He worked at small market Minnesota stations in Marshall and St. Cloud before joining one of the nation's highest-rated sports stations, KFAN-FM 100.3 in the Twin Cities. There, he was the producer of the top-rated mid-morning sports show with Minnesota Vikings announcer Paul Allen.  His radio experience helped blossom a career as a sports writer, joining Minneapolis-based Bring Me The News in 2011.  Nelson and Adam Uren became co-owners of Bring Me The News in 2018 and have since more than tripled the site's traffic and launched Bring Me The Sports in cooperation with the Sports Illustrated/FanNation umbrella. Nelson has covered the Super Bowl and numerous training camps, NFL combines, the MLB All-Star Game and Minnesota playoff games, in addition to the day-to-day happenings on and off the field of play.  Nelson also has extensive knowledge of non-sports subjects, including news and weather. He works closely with Bring Me The News meteorologist Sven Sundgaard to produce a bevy of weather and climate information for Minnesota readers.  Nelson helped launch and manage the Bring Me The News Radio Network, which provided more than 50 radio stations around Minnesota with daily news, sports and weather reports from 2011-17.