Kirill Kaprizov simply wasn’t going to let the Wild lose. Not on this particular night. Not with the hopes and dreams of this season still hanging in the balance.

With the Wild in danger of falling 10 points out of the final playoff spot with 20 games remaining, Kaprizov netted a hat trick to lead the way in a 4-3 win over the lowly San Jose Sharks. He singlehandedly erased a deficit in the final frame on Sunday night at the Xcel Energy Center, then scored  the game winner for good measure.

The win helped the Wild (29-27-6, 64 points) stay within striking distance of the Los Angeles Kings (31-19-10, 72 points) and Nashville Predators (35-25-2, 72 points) for the the the final playoff spot, giving general manager Bill Guerin something to think about with the trade deadline slowly coming into focus.

After dominating play for much of the first period, the Wild had nothing to show for it. Much like in their loss to the St. Louis Blues about 24 hours earlier.

It started to go sideways for the Wild early in the second period as Sharks winger Mikael Granlund went top shelf on the power play to make it 1-0. It got worse from there for the Wild as winger Matt Boldy turned the puck over while on the power play and watched Sharks winger Nico Sturm score shorthanded on the other end to stretch the lead to 2-0.

That seemed to awaken the Wild.

On the very next shift, with the Wild still on the power play, Freddy Gaudreau quickly cut the deficit to 2-1. That energized the home crowd, less than 90 seconds later, star winger Kirill Kaprizov handled a stretch pass from fellow winger Mason Shaw and casually made it 2-2.

Though the Wild pushed hard to create some separation in the aftermath, they couldn’t find the back of the net. That came back to bit them in the third period as Sharks winger Anthony Duclair got loose on a partial breakaway and beat goaltender Filip Gustavsson glove side to make it 3-2.

Luckily for the Wild, they have Kaprizov, and he wasn’t going to let them lose. He carved out some open ice near the slot, then unleashed a perfectly placed slap shot on bended knee to level the score at 3-3. He scored again a few minutes later, finalizing his hat trick in the process.

Briefly

The lineup felt disjointed throughout the game as the Wild were without winger Marcus Johansson, who sat out due a lower-body injury, and winger Mats Zuccarello, who was a late scratch due to personal reasons. Though defenseman Dakota Mermis suited up in place of Zuccarello, he logged very limited ice tie.

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The Timberwolves may have to secure all of their playoff victories within the first 40 minutes of such contests. That’s because the late-game struggles that continue to trip them up have proven to be far more than happenstance.

That’s what cost the Wolves again Sunday in their 89-88 home defeat to the Clippers. In its current seven-game homestand, which wraps Monday against Portland, Minnesota has dropped all three games against playoff-quality opponents: Milwaukee, Sacramento and now Los Angeles.

The last two, specifically, were there for the taking. Minnesota simply continues to not have the answer for those situations. The Wolves went 4 for 11 from the field in clutch time Sunday.

When they needed a basket late, they couldn’t find one. Minnesota had consecutive possessions in the final minute in which it needed a bucket to take the lead. Anthony Edwards missed a 3-point attempt, and Karl-Anthony Towns missed a runner on the baseline.

The latter miss left Minnesota in a situation where it had to foul. Kawhi Leonard made a pair of free throws at the other end, leaving the Wolves — who led by as many as 16 in the first quarter — trailing 99-96 with 13 seconds to play.

Timberwolves coach Chris Finch told his players a quick two-point basket was an option, given the Wolves still had a timeout.

“I thought we had the quick two, the catch-and-go quick two. We had the pull-behind, and then we had some outlets for three. We had another timeout, so the quick two would’ve set us up there. Foul again, and then advance the ball. That was ideal,” Finch said. “But that didn’t happen.”

What instead happened was Towns and Edwards passing the ball back and forth on the perimeter against defenders who refused to give up a 3-point attempt. Finally, Edwards made a move to the bucket. He looked back for Towns, but the sharpshooting big man’s defender wasn’t going to leave his side.

So Edwards took the free dunk. The problem was, there were only three seconds to play at that point. The Clippers (39-20) inbounded the ball and Minnesota (42-19) couldn’t get a foul before the clock expired.

Ballgame.

“Yeah, it was too late. I didn’t know it was three seconds left when I took the two,” Edwards said. “I would’ve just tried the step-back and take the three (had I known).”

Add it to the list of Minnesota’s late-game mental errors alongside shoddy shot selection and baffling fouls. You can either laugh or cry at this point. Kyle Anderson chose the former.

“We’re getting it all out of the way right now. Playoffs is gonna be great, and down the stretch (of the season),” Anderson said. “We’re still a young team. People forget we got a lot of young guys out there. Of course, we got to grow up and figure it out. I think we will, just learn from our mistakes.”

But those mistakes are happening again, and again, and again. They’ve plagued Minnesota for three seasons now, torpedoing countless regular-season contests and, eventually, playoff series.

There’s little to suggest Minnesota isn’t heading down a similar road this season. Minnesota was again elite defensively. Leonard finished with 32 points, but the Clippers shot just 38 percent from the floor and 29 percent from deep.

Yet somehow the Wolves were worse. They shot 39 percent from the floor and just 27 percent from beyond the arc. Still, even just one more late bucket could’ve absolved the offense of all wrongdoing. It didn’t come. For this team, it rarely does.

Since Dec. 20, the Wolves own the NBA’s worst clutch-time offense, scoring just 94.6 points per 100 possessions. They’re getting outscored by 23.8 points per 100 clutch possessions in that span. Clutch time is when the game is within five points in the final five minutes of regulation or overtime — also known as winning time.

Currently, for the Wolves, it’s losing time.

Losses over the last month and a half to the Clippers, Kings, Bulls, Magic, Spurs and Hornets raise red flags. Minnesota’s last real late-game victory came in Oklahoma City on Jan. 29. The team’s general success has largely covered up such concerns to this point.

But it’s reached the point where the clutch-time conundrum has officially put the team’s chances for the No. 1 seed in the West in jeopardy. And there’s little evidence of change coming around the corner.

The unseasonable warmth enjoyed by Twin Cities residents on Sunday afternoon broke a pair of temperature records, officials say.

The mercury at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport reached 74 degrees, breaking the record high for this date of 65 set in 1905, according to the National Weather Service.

It also marked the earliest the metro has topped the 70-degree mark since record keeping began. The previous titleholder was March 5, 2000, when the high temperature reached 72 degrees.

Record highs were also recorded in Eau Claire and St. Cloud, the NWS said.

Record highs have been set again today in the Twin Cities, St. Cloud and Eau Claire. Eau Claire and St. Cloud reached 70 degrees today, and the Twin Cities rose to 74 degrees. In addition, this was the earliest 70 degree temperature on record for all 3 sites. #mnwx #wiwx

— NWS Twin Cities (@NWSTwinCities) March 3, 2024

The historically warm start to March follows the metro’s hottest meteorological winter on record, with an average temperature of 29.9 degrees. The previous record was 29.0 degrees, set in the winter that spanned 1877 and 1878.

Temperatures are expected to moderate for the rest of this week, with highs forecast in the upper 40s and low 50s, according to the NWS.

A little rain and snow are possible in the morning and early afternoon on Monday, with another chance of precipitation toward the end of the week.

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