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Kirill Kaprizov under fire amidst Wild playoff series

Minnesota Wild star forward Kirill Kaprizov may have been the team’s regular-season leading goal scorer, he’s been quiet in the first round series against the Dallas Stars.

Too quiet.

Team insider Michael Russo of The Athletic posted this on social media following the Wild’s Game 5 loss to Dallas, in which no one from Minnesota managed to get a goal.

“Kaprizov has no even-strength points in the series. His lone point was with 48 seconds left in the 1st period of Game 1. He has gone 293 minutes, 8 seconds without a point. That’s 14 consecutive periods without a point, plus 12:20 of the second overtime of Game 1.”

Fans and pundits have been waiting for Kaprizov to have a breakout game and now he has no other choice but to have it in do or die Game 6 on Friday. Some are worried that the Russian sniper might not be fully healthy, he who returned at the end of the regular season after missing some time with a lower-body injury after he was tackled to the ice by Winnipeg Jets defenseman Logan Stanley on March 8.

Kaprizov has been trying and recorded a shot on goal on a flawlessJake Oettinger on Tuesday. In Game 4 as Russo put it, Kaprizov had four shots on goal, “including a breakaway Oettinger stopped that would have tied the score. He had seven other shots that were either blocked or missed the mark.”

However with Minnesota on the brink of elimination ahead of Friday’s action, the Wild need Kaprizov to lead the way. Maybe being under fire with fans calling for him to get back to his usual ways and authentic self with motivate Kaprizov to start scoring!

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Jets’ Rick Bowness throws his star players under the bus amidst playoff race!

The Winnipeg Jets fell 3-0 to the San Jose Sharks Tuesday, allowing the Calgary Flames to close within two points of the team for the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference. Head coach Rick Bowman has had enough and after the loss, he called out his players as Winnipeg could end up out of the playoff thanks to its latest performances.

“The offence gave us a chance to win the game, we just didn’t score. Then, the inconsistencies with some of our players is hurting us.

“Some of these guys think they’re giving us everything in their tank. They’re dreaming. We have a lot of guys in there giving us everything they can. We just need a few more guys to jump on board.

“It’s not over. We’re still in eighth spot. We’re going to find out what we’re made of over the next little while.”

There is no doubt that the Jets need to do more, especially with the Flames finally battling for a playoff spot. In their last seven games, the Jets suffered their third shutout defeat. Winnipeg has a 6-7-1 record since the March 3 trade deadline and has the Flames and the Nashville Predators breathing down its neck in the wild-card race.

The Jets missed the playoffs last season and were hoping that bringing in Bowness as their new head coach would get the team back on track.

The Jets now have seven games remaining in their season, including a home game against both the Flames and Predators next week in most-win scenarios all around.

Will the players have the right answer to Bowness publicly calling them out?

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