ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Kirill Kaprizov scored his second goal of the game on a power play at 3:38 of overtime to give the Minnesota Wild a 4-3 victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Monday night.
Minnesota got the power play when Phillip Danault hooked Kaprizov in front of the goal. Kaprizov took a feed from Quinn Hughes and fired a shot past Jakub Dobes from the high slot for his 32nd goal of the season.
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Minnesota Wild center Joel Eriksson Ek, right, celebrates his goal with left wing Matt Boldy (12) during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the Montréal Canadiens, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026, in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo/Matt Krohn)
Minnesota Wild left wing Kirill Kaprizov, center, celebrates after his goal against the Montréal Canadiens during the first period of an NHL hockey game Monday, Feb. 2, 2026, in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo/Matt Krohn)
Minnesota Wild defenseman Brock Faber, right, and Montréal Canadiens right wing Josh Anderson, center, compete for position as Wild goaltender Filip Gustavsson defends his net during the second period of an NHL hockey game Monday, Feb. 2, 2026, in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo/Matt Krohn)
Minnesota Wild players congratulate Minnesota Wild goaltender Filip Gustavsson (32) after the team's overtime win in an NHL hockey game against the Montréal Canadiens Monday, Feb. 2, 2026, in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo/Matt Krohn)
Minnesota Wild defenseman Brock Faber, center, celebrates with teammates after his goal during the third period of an NHL hockey game against the Montréal Canadiens, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026, in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo/Matt Krohn)
Joel Eriksson Ek and Brock Faber also scored, and Hughes had three assists to reach 50 for the season. Filip Gustavsson made 17 saves.
Faber tied it at 3 at 7:05 of the third, racing onto the puck down the right side for a quick shot. Quinn assisted on the goal.
Hughes assisted on Kaprizov’s first goal to tie the Russian’s team-record assists streak at nine and push his franchise-record points streak for defenseman to nine. Kaprizov had assists in nine straight games in 2022-23.
Minnesota won its fourth straight, ending Montreal winning streak at three.
Brendan Gallagher, Ivan Demidov and Kirby Dach scored to give Montreal the lead after the Wild raced to a 2-0 advantage.
Dach put Montreal ahead 12 seconds into the third, knocking in Nick Suzuki’s feed. Gallagher started the comeback with 52 seconds left in the first, and Demidov tied it with 17 seconds to go in the second,
Eriksson Ek opened the scoring at 38 seconds of the first, firing a wrist shot from right circle. Kaprizov made it 2-0 with 4:12 left in the first, tipping in Quinn's feed.
Wild defenseman Daemon Hunt didn’t return after taking a puck to the throat in the first period.
Canadiens: At Winnipeg on Wednesday night in their final game before the Olympic break.
Wild: At Nashville on Wednesday night in their final game before the Olympic break.
AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
Minnesota Wild center Joel Eriksson Ek, right, celebrates his goal with left wing Matt Boldy (12) during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the Montréal Canadiens, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026, in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo/Matt Krohn)
Minnesota Wild left wing Kirill Kaprizov, center, celebrates after his goal against the Montréal Canadiens during the first period of an NHL hockey game Monday, Feb. 2, 2026, in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo/Matt Krohn)
Minnesota Wild defenseman Brock Faber, right, and Montréal Canadiens right wing Josh Anderson, center, compete for position as Wild goaltender Filip Gustavsson defends his net during the second period of an NHL hockey game Monday, Feb. 2, 2026, in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo/Matt Krohn)
Minnesota Wild players congratulate Minnesota Wild goaltender Filip Gustavsson (32) after the team's overtime win in an NHL hockey game against the Montréal Canadiens Monday, Feb. 2, 2026, in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo/Matt Krohn)
Minnesota Wild defenseman Brock Faber, center, celebrates with teammates after his goal during the third period of an NHL hockey game against the Montréal Canadiens, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026, in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo/Matt Krohn)
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Not so fast on an 18-game NFL season.
A week after Patriots owner Robert Kraft made it seem inevitable, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said expanding the regular season to 18 games is “not a given.”
“We have not had any formal discussions about it and, frankly, very little, if any, informal conversations,” Goodell said Monday at his annual state of the NFL news conference ahead of the Super Bowl. “I've heard people talk about it in the context. It is not a given that we will do that. It’s not something we assume will happen. It’s something we want to talk about with the union leadership.”
Last Tuesday, Kraft made it seem 18 games was a foregone conclusion.
“I want to tell you guys that we’re going to push like the dickens now to make international (games) more important with us,” Kraft told 98.5 FM last week. ”Every team will go to 18 (regular-season games) and two (preseason games) and eliminate one of the preseason games, and every team every year will play one game overseas."
Clearly, word reached Goodell.
He mentioned that the NFL Players Association will be going through a leadership transition and that the conversation will be complex. Goodell pointed out player safety concerns, competitive issues, the potential need to add another bye and roster sizes as areas that have to be addressed through collective bargaining.
The current CBA between the NFL and its players' union expires in 2030.
“As (the NFLPA) determines their priorities, we are doing the same at the ownership level so that when we get together, we can address these issues together,” Goodell said.
The momentum for an 18th game took off when Goodell made an appearance on the Pat McAfee Show at the 2024 NFL draft in Detroit and said: "I’d rather replace a preseason game with a regular-season (game) any day, that’s just picking quality. If we got to 18 (regular season) and two (preseason), that’s not an unreasonable thing.”
He's walked it back previously but not to this point.
The NFL added a 17th game in 2021 in the most recent CBA.
Seattle Seahawks receiver Cooper Kupp hinted Monday night that owners would have to give up a bigger piece of the financial pie to get an 18th done.
“For the 18th game to happen, there’s obviously going to be some negotiation,” Kupp said. “There’s some things, give and take. Unfortunately, it’s one of those things. If the 18th game is on the table, there’s going to have to be some talks about what makes that worth it to the players. And we’ll get to that point. We’ll cross that bridge.”
The NFL will look into New York Giants co-owner Steve Tisch and his association with Jeffrey Epstein after his name showed up more than 400 times in files released by the U.S. Justice Department regarding Epstein.
“Absolutely we will look at all the facts,” Goodell said. “We’ll look at the context of those and try to understand that. We’ll look at how that falls under the (league personal conduct) policy. I think we’ll take one step at a time. Let’s get the facts first.”
Tisch said last week he knew Epstein and that they “exchanged emails about adult women” and “discussed movies, philanthropy and investments.” But Tisch, 76, denied going to Epstein’s island and was never charged in the investigation.
Epstein killed himself in a New York jail cell in August 2019, a month after being indicted on federal sex trafficking charges.
The documents were disclosed under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, the law enacted after months of public and political pressure that requires the government to open its files on the late financier and his confidant and onetime girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell.
The NFL will play its first regular-season game ever in France next season with the New Orleans Saints set to travel to Paris later this year and the league will also head back to Mexico City for the first time since 2022, increasing the total of international games to nine in 2026.
The league announced the plans to play a game at the Stade de France next season in addition to a multiyear deal to keep playing regular-season games at Real Madrid’s Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, and a game to be played in Mexico City in December.
Goodell said 16 international games remains the goal.
AP Pro Football Writer Mark Long contributed.
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell speaks during his state of the NFL news conference on Monday, Feb. 2, 2026, in San Jose, Calif., ahead of the Super Bowl 60 football game between the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots. (AP Photo/Matt York)
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell speaks during his state of the NFL news conference on Monday, Feb. 2, 2026, in San Jose, Calif., ahead of the Super Bowl 60 football game between the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots. (AP Photo/Matt York)
