Kirill Kaprizov’s power-play goal in overtime capped a determined Minnesota Wild effort in which they never trailed and held off a valiant comeback push by the Vegas Golden Knights.

The Wild gave up a pair of power-play goals but managed to win 3-2 Sunday at Grand Casino Arena, improving to 6-1-1 in what perhaps should be dubbed “better November.”

Joel Eriksson Ek and Yakov Trenin scored in the first and second periods, respectively, for the Wild, who got 23 saves from Filip Gustavsson and are now 9-7-4 overall this season.

The Wild had the only four shots of overtime, and got a brief power play in the final minute of the extra session that allowed Kaprizov to get his team-leading 11th goal in dramatic fashion.

Minnesota’s first goal came after a set-up pass by Johansson found Mats Zuccarello uncovered in the low slot in front of the Vegas net. With Knights goalie Carl Lindbom squared to the potential shot, Zuccarello instead zipped a cross-ice pass to Eriksson Ek for a wide open shot.

It marked the franchise-record ninth consecutive game that Minnesota has scored first.

But Vegas solved the Wild’s recently solid penalty kill later in the opening period, with Pavel Dorofeyev scoring his team-leading 11th goal for the Knights.

After Vegas killed an early penalty in the middle frame, dropping the Minnesota power play to 0-10 in the past two games, the Wild took the lead back on the classic “throw it toward the net and see what happens” goal. From the side of the Vegas net, Trenin directed the puck into the crease, where it hit traffic and trickled between goalie Carl Lindbom’s knees.

But the Vegas power play provided the equalizer again in the third when a Reilly Smith shot sailed through a crowd in front of Gustavsson.

Wild top line center Ryan Hartman left the game in the third period, due to what appeared to be a leg injury as he headed down the tunnel.

Lindbom, who is still looking for his first career win, had 24 saves and fell to 0-3-2 as a starter.

It was the first meeting with the Golden Knights since Minnesota took a 2-1 lead in their opening round playoff series last spring, only to see Vegas win the final three games and advance. They will meet two more times in the regular season – Dec. 29 and March 6, both in Las Vegas.

The Wild close out their current five-game homestand on Wednesday, facing the Carolina Hurricanes for the second time this month. The nationally-televised game faces off at 8:30 p.m.

Briefly

With his assist on the Wild’s first goal, Johansson now has 13 points in Minnesota’s past dozen games. He saw a career-best nine-game scoring streak snapped versus San Jose last week, but he immediately began a new streak in Saturday’s win versus Anaheim. After that game, Johansson said the Wild’s place in the standings was his sole focus amid the individual hot streak.

“I’m just happy we got the points, and that’s all that matters,” he said.

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More information will soon be revealed about a construction project along a Dakota County highway corridor that has been years in the making.

Hastings residents are invited to a public meeting Tuesday evening to learn about the reconstruction of U.S. 61 between just north of Third Street and just south of 36th Street, according to a news release from the Minnesota Department of Transportation.

A stretch of U.S. Highway 61 between just north of Third Street and just south of 36th Street is slated for reconstruction. Hastings residents are invited to a public meeting on Nov. 18, 2025 to learn about the project. (Courtesy of the Minnesota Dept. of Transportation)

The meeting, which begins at 5 p.m. at Hastings City Hall at 101 Fourth St. E., will give residents an opportunity to learn more about the project, view displays and speak with staff.

A two-year study of the U.S. 61 corridor, which concluded in June 2024, identified safety improvements for all modes of travel, alternatives for primary intersections and options to consolidate private driveways and public roads, according to the project webpage.

As a result, the project will see the construction of new, full-size roundabouts at Minnesota 316 and 36th Street, improvements to safety and traffic flow, new concrete sidewalks and pedestrian ramps and a new traffic signal at the intersection of U.S. 61 and 18th Street.

The project will cost an estimated $30 million to $40 million, according to the project team, with funds coming from the Metropolitan Council’s Regional Solicitation and MnDOT’s Transportation Economic Development program.

The historic Todd Field wall, which runs adjacent to U.S. 61 at Hastings High School’s McNamara Stadium at Todd Field, is also slated for replacement due to significant structural and geotechnical issues including visible cracking and a lack of drainage. The current wall also fails to meet modern crash safety standards, according to the project team.

The new wall will be built vertically, replacing the existing 45-degree slope, which the project team said will allow for a standard southbound right-turn lane and upgraded sidewalks that meet ADA requirements.

Construction is tentatively planned to run from fall 2027 through spring 2029, with the majority of work completed in 2028.

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As his name blared over the loud speakers on Sunday afternoon at U.S. Bank Stadium, Harrison Smith slowly walked into sight before sprinting onto the field to a massive ovation from the Vikings’ home crowd.

It’s fitting that Smith was the last player out of the tunnel ahead of his 200th game in the NFL. Originally selected in the first round of the 2012 draft out of Notre Dame, the 36-year-old safety has spent his whole career with the Vikings.

“It’s something that I didn’t set out to think I’d do,” Smith said. “To be in a small group of guys that have done it with the Vikings is pretty special.”

The others players in franchise history with at least 200 games include Jim Marshall (270), Mick Tingelhoff (240), Fred Cox (210), Carl Eller (209) and Scott Studwell (201).

Asked about the incredible feat last week in the lead up to the game between the Vikings and the Chicago Bears, Kevin O’Connell showered Smith with praise, saying he’s among his favorite players he has ever coached.

“He’s such a special person,” O’Connell said. “If they were all like Harrison Smith, we would be very fortunate.”

The stats speak for themselves as Smith has recorded 1,157 tackles, 20 1/2 sacks, 37 interceptions, and 13 forced fumbles in his career. He has posted those numers while serving as the lifeblood of the defense, snap in and snap out, for well over a decade.

What is the secret to his longevity?

“I do a pretty good job taking care of my body,” Smith said. “I’m pretty conscious of what I do and what I don’t do.”

Asked about Smith playing as long as he has the NFL, Josh Metellus shook his head in disbelief, adding that he talked about the number with some of his teammates.

“We haven’t even played half the games he’s played,” Metellus said with a laugh. “To be on the field with a guy with that kind of experience is special. I’m going to shout him out every chance I get. That’s a special guy.”

As the Vikings prepared for kickoff against the Bears, Smith got to experience another cool wrinkle, as his wife Madison, his daughter Eleanor and son Pierce sounded the Gjallarhorn and led the Skol Chant pregame.

“That’s something special that will be pretty cool to look back on for a long time,” Smith said. “My wife was pretty nervous. It looked like she did a good job. My kids did as well.”

As he talked to reporters after the game, Smith tried his best to put everything in perceptive, even if he admitted that the Vikings suffering a 19-17 loss to the Bears as time expired put a damper on the moment.

“It’s hard not to think about the game,” Smith said. “That’s why I’m here.”

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For most of the Vikings’ 19-17 loss to Chicago on Sunday, J.J. McCarthy looked like a young quarterback whose confidence had cratered, out of sorts since the opening whistle.

On the Vikings’ first few drives, McCarthy overthrew Jordan Addison and threw behind Justin Jefferson on plays that would have moved the sticks. He later threw a pair of first-half interceptions, his seventh and eighth of the season, the first on an underthrown pass under duress that the Bears turned into three points.

Making his fifth NFL start on Sunday at U.S. Bank Stadium, McCarthy looked tight, indecisive, crushed by expectations. Unready.

Whatever the Vikings expected McCarthy to be in his first NFL season, it was too much for a 22-year-old who missed his entire rookie season because of a knee injury. More than halfway through the season, the Vikings are 4-6 and last in the NFC North, and frankly getting worse.

Nearly everyone who cared could see this coming. Why Vikings management didn’t is a mystery.

Sometimes you can know too much.

General manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and head coach Kevin O’Connell look at McCarthy and see a 6-foot-3, 220-pound quarterback with a strong arm and the mental acuity and drive to absorb the intricacies of an NFL offense. They see a kid who has everything he needs to succeed.

But McCarthy is barely completing 50 percent of his passes and has more interceptions (8) than touchdown passes (6). Against the Bears, he was 16 for 32 for 150 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions.

Asked afterward why he thinks his accuracy has been so low, McCarthey said, “I think it’s just growing.”

Yes. Absolutely. No doubt.

Who knows what plans are made in the back rooms of team headquarters in Eagan? Who knows what Kwesi, KOC and the Wilfs tell each other in full candor? One would assume that a team that went out and spent more than $300 million on free agents last spring expected to win this season, even with a quarterback playing his first NFL season.

It was easy to criticize that approach before the season started, and it’s even easier now. But one can’t make that argument without acknowledging that NFL quarterbacks require a long landing strip, that it’s a remarkably difficult job and rarely clicks in the first season.

McCarthy absorbed his first boos from fans at the Bank on Sunday, just one indication that this season is becoming a referendum on J.J. McCarthy, at least outside of the bunker. After the game, O’Connell was asked how bad his quarterback would have to play before he would replace him.

“I’m not gonna get into that,” the coach said.

Expecting a playoff season was too much to put on McCarthy’s shoulders. Everyone knows it now. It was unrealistic and unfair, and it would be a mistake to give the young quarterback just this one season to prove himself.

It’s too early to start turning the page on McCarthy.

For one thing, it would be a complete waste of this season. For another, NFL teams are generally too quick to pull the plug on young quarterbacks, as we have learned by watching Sam Darnold excel here and in Seattle.

In some ways, handing McCarthy has been a disaster, but he also has on occasion shown us why Minnesota has been so high on him, as he did while going 5 for 5 for 55 yards and a touchdown pass on what really should have been a game-winning drive after the two-minute warning had sounded.

“There is a huge growth and learning opportunity in front of us,” O’Connell said. “That doesn’t make this any easier, but it’s the truth.”

If O’Connell and Adofo-Mensah truly believed what they have been telling us about McCarthy, they need to stick with him. They threw him out there this season and asked him to either be great, or make all make all his mistakes in front of 70,000 people on Sundays.

They owe it to him to not give up.

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