Kirill Kaprizov’s sense of the way he has started his four NHL seasons is a little bit askew.

After scoring his first goal of the season on Tuesday, a power-play goal in the Wild’s 5-2 victory at Montreal, the young left wing was asked how it felt to put one in the net.

“Usually it’s longer, every year,” he said. “This year, three games.”

The reality is, Kaprizov has never had that much trouble starting what head coach Dean Evason called his “very gifted engine.” He scored in his first NHL game in January 2021, and last season had eight goals and 13 points in his first 10 games on the way to 40-35—75 in 67 games.

Remarkably, Kaprizov went without a goal in his first eight games of the season in 2021-22, the year he set a franchise record with 47 goals and 108 points. Apparently, when you’re so accustomed to scoring goals, that tends to be the start you remember.

Still, Kaprizov’s game at Bell Centre was a welcome one for player and team. The young star didn’t play poorly in his first two games — he had an assist in both a 2-0 victory over Florida and 7-4 loss at Toronto — but he didn’t seem himself.

The Wild played short a forward on Tuesday after Matt Boldy suffered an upper-body injury at Toronto and coaches were hoping the extra shifts might help Kaprizov get back to normal. He played a team-high 22 minutes, 4 seconds and finished with a goal and two assists.

Evason said the coaching staff showed Kaprizov video clips of when he has played his best before Tuesday’s game.

“He moved his feet tonight,” the coach said. “You could tell (during practice Monday) he was just pushing himself to get started, to start that obviously very gifted engine that he has, and he did.”

Linemate Mats Zuccarello had three assists, two on power-play goals by Joel Eriksson Ek, and four shots on goal. Kaprizov had six shots on net.

It was a welcome sight for Evason, who thought the two close friends weren’t attacking enough in the offensive zone.

“I really liked the way they played,” he said. “It was straight forward, it wasn’t east-west, it was a lot of north stuff there. They were taking it to the net, they were both shooting the puck, as far as Kirill and Zuccy. So, a lot of good signs.”

Kaprizov seemed relieved.

“Feel better a little bit,” he said. “I tried not to think about this too much, just try and focus on the team game. Of course, (scoring) is always good for myself.”

Wild recall Walker

The Wild recalled former Gophers forward Sammy Walker from AHL Iowa and placed former Gophers defenseman Alex Goligoski on long-term injured reserve with a lower-body injury ahead of Thursday night’s game against the Los Angeles Kings at Xcel Energy Center.

Because the buyouts of Zach Parise and Ryan Suter mean $14.7 million of dead cap space this season and next, the Wild are about $51,000 under the cap. Placing Goligoski on LTIR gives them potential relief should they choose to add a seventh defenseman. It also requires the veteran miss at least 10 games and 24 days of the NHL season.

Goligoski suffered a lower-body injury during a practice Monday in Montreal. The injury left the Wild a skater short for Tuesday’s 5-2 victory over the Canadiens, allowing the team to recall Walker, under the NHL’s emergency personnel rules, at a salary $100,000 over the league minimum of $775,000 this season. That makes Walker and his $855,000 NHL deal available.

Walker, 24, made his NHL debut last season, recording a goal and assist in nine games before performing well this fall during training camp — three goals and four points in three preseason games. He will take the spot of wing Matt Boldy, who is week to week with an upper-body injury suffered late in a 7-4 loss at Toronto on Saturday.