Postgame Hat Trick: Wild 3, Blackhawks 2 (OT)

Wild.com's Dan Myers gives three takeaways from the Wild's 3-2 overtime win against the Chicago Blackhawks at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul on Thursday night:

1. Another game, another point for Zuccarello.
About the only player who has been as noticeable this preseason as Adam Beckman has been Mats Zuccarello, a trend that continued on Thursday night.
That whole first line of Zuccarello, Kirill Kaprizov and Joel Eriksson Ek was flat out dominant for large stretches of the game. That group was on the ice for each of Minnesota's first two goals, including a power-play marker in the first period and an even-strength tally in the third.

Zuccarello assisted on both goals and now has seven helpers this exhibition season ... and it was one of those games where with a little luck, he could have had another two or three assists.
Eriksson Ek had the power play marker, stuffing home a rebound of a Zuccarello shot on the doorstep.
2. By Golly: Goose lights the lamp.
Alex Goligoski has been eased into exhibition action so far. As a veteran, that's not surprising. He doesn't need the kind of preseason repetitions that can be spread amongst younger talent or undecided roster battles.

Come Opening Night, Goligoski will be next to Jared Spurgeon on Minnesota's top pairing, and everyone knows that.
It was nice to see Goligoski score his first (unofficial) goal in a Wild uniform, however, scooping up a rebound of a Kaprizov shot from the point and giving Minnesota a 2-1 lead midway through the third period.
3. It's been awhile.
It's only the preseason, but it has been a long time since the Wild has seen the sweater of a team other than a "West" Division opponent on the schedule.
Not since the Edmonton bubble in August of 2020 has Minnesota played a game against someone other than the seven other teams in last season's West Division. The Wild lost three of four games to the Vancouver Canucks in that playoff series, and the Canucks spent last season in the all Canadian North Division.
With the Central Division returning for the upcoming season, it's been quite awhile since Minnesota has seen a traditional division rival (other than Colorado and St. Louis). How long? It was 583 days ago - March 3, 2020 - when Minnesota defeated the Nashville Predators at Xcel Energy Center by a 3-1 margin.
Nine days later, the NHL shut things down because of the COVId-19 pandemic, halting play for five months until bubble play in Edmonton and Toronto.
It's been 611 days since the Wild and Blackhawks played a game of any consequence, a 3-2 overtime victory for Minnesota on Feb. 4, 2020 in downtown St. Paul.
It'll be just two days until the two regional rivals meet again, albeit in the preseason, when both clubs wrap up the exhibition schedule on Saturday night at the United Center.
In terms of games that count, the Wild and Blackhawks won't play again until 2022, when they play a home-and-home, back-to-back set in Chicago and in St. Paul on Jan. 21-22, 2022, the second game of which marking the close of Hockey Day Minnesota, hailing this winter from the beautiful city of Mankato (#HornsUp).