Wild become fastest franchise to win 1,000th NHL regular-season game

The Minnesota Wild made history Friday night, becoming the fastest team in NHL history to reach 1,000 regular-seaon wins as they defeated the San Jose Sharks 4-1.

Minnesota was led by Kirill Kaprizov on Friday, who scored his league-leading 16th goal and added three assists. The forward has five goals and eight assists for 13 points during a seven-game point streak.

Defenseman Quinn Hughes had a goal and two assists in the win.

The Wild accomplished the feat in 1,995 games played, which beat the previous mark held by the Philadelphia Flyers who did it in 2,018 games. In January 2025, the Nashville Predators did it in 2,020 games.

The Wild are now 12-3-3 and possess the best record in the Western Conference and the second-best mark in the NHL.

Meanwhile, the Sharks are 7-10-1 through their first 18 games of 2026-27.

Minnesota entered the league as an expansion franchise in 2000-01. They reached the Western Conference Final in just their third season, but have not reached since.

Mikko Koivu, who served as captain for 11 seasons, holds multiple franchise records, including the most regular-season games played (1,028) assists (504) and points (709).

Meanwhile, Kaprizov is the Wild’s all-time franchise leader with 246 goals. Now in his seventh NHL season, he has 259 assists and 505 points in 415 career games.