Postgame Hat Trick: Wild 6, Blues 2

Wild.com's Dan Myers gives three takeaways from the Wild's 6-2 win in Game 2 of its First Round playoff series against the St. Louis Blues at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul on Monday night:

1. That's more like it
Whenever the Wild has needed to fire a bullet this season, it's found a way to do so. And Wednesday night was no different.
Just 48 hours after losing the home-ice advantage it worked the final month of the regular season to secure, Minnesota avoided an 0-2 hole by scoring three times in the first period -- including twice on the power play -- to bring the best-of-7 series to St. Louis knotted up at 1-1.
More simply: win one of the next two at Enterprise Center and the Wild will have re-gained home ice in a series that most believed would go deep, if not the distance.
Two nights after not scoring a goal and being shutout for just the second time all season, the Wild opened up a four-goal lead just 51 seconds into the second period.
Things got ... meaty ... for a bit in the third period, as the Blues closed to within a pair of goals, but the Wild was up to the task, closing out their rivals with goals 65 seconds apart later in the final period to finish the night in style.
After being the talk of Game 1 for all the wrong reasons, the Wild's special teams were perhaps its biggest reason for its Game 2 turnaround. Minnesota scored twice with the man advantage and its PK was much improved killing off its first two power plays as well as its final two, all at critical junctures of the hockey game.

"We took a lot of heat for our special teams, right, and they were real good obviously tonight," said Wild coach Dean Evason.
The Wild actually came out a bit tepid in the first period, not getting even as much as a shot on goal through the first eight or nine minutes of regulation.
But it made its first one count as Joel Eriksson Ek scored his first of three goals on the Wild's very first shot on goal of the game at the 9:33 mark.
"A big key for us. We didn't have a shot yet and it goes in," Evason said. "We talked about this the other night, the crowd waiting. They didn't wait for us tonight, though, right? They were right from the get-go jacked up and got us going and that goal obviously was a big goal."
The lift it brought the team was immeasurable.

"It was obviously super important for us to get that momentum," Wild forward Kirill Kaprizov said through a translator. "Just kind of feeling good about the game. I think the fans were into it right away. So I'm really happy for him. It was a great goal. Very much needed."
Just 3 1/2 minutes later, Friendly Freddy Gaudreau scored his first of the playoffs, finishing off a power-play marker.
Kaprizov scored in the final minute of the period, also on the man advantage, and all of the sudden the Wild was off and running.
"It's a good feeling to get the first one, especially when we didn't score last game, to come out and play with a lead," Eriksson Ek said.
Eriksson Ek intercepted a Vladimir Tarasenko pass in front of his own net in the first minute of the second, toe-dragged around Ville Husso and buried his second of the night for a four-goal advantage.

The win was Minnesota's third in the past 16 games against St. Louis dating back to the start of the 2019-20 campaign.
"We hadn't played them here at home before the last game, and it's for sure helping to build confidence," Eriksson Ek said, "knowing you can take the lead and run with it."
2. Those hats weren't tossed in vein
When Kaprizov scored to make it 5-2 with 8:13 left in the contest, you could feel the sigh of relief inside Xcel Energy Center. The Blues had halved a 4-0 lead and were pushing to make it a one-goal game before Mats Zuccarello fed Kaprizov for some much-needed Zuccy-to-Kirill magic.
When Eriksson Ek scored 18 seconds later to finish off a hat trick, the roof inside Xcel Energy Center nearly rattled free.
Hats rained down on the ice sheet as "Shout!" was blaring from the speakers.
As the Kwik Trip ice crew gathered the hundreds of lids on the ice and stuffed them into plastic barrels, Blues coach Craig Berube was looking at the play.
Wild forward Marcus Foligno was offside. Way offside.

Berube challenged and the goal was quickly wiped away, much to the chagrin of the fans who had launched their headwear the way of the ice sheet.
Eriksson Ek was perfectly on brand in his reaction.
"I mean, it's about winning. That's what we want to do," Eriksson Ek said. "But I think [Foligno] should buy some new hats for all those people."
Fear not, hat-less friends. Kaprizov came to your rescue.
With newfound "life," the Blues pulled Husso in Dean Evason-style, with more than seven minutes left on the clock and a deficit after the review that was back at three.
Moments later, Kaprizov buried his third of the game into an empty net, making sure that all those tossed hats would not be lost for nothing.
Heck, even a few dozen more hats came flying out of the stands to litter the ice. I mean, let's be honest, if you're still wearing a hat at that point, the peer pressure would have to be overwhelming, right?
"I don't think all of them made it down, that's all," Kaprizov said.

Kaprizov's hat trick is the first in Wild playoff history and the first in Minnesota pro hockey history since Dino Ciccarelli scored three in a game for the North Stars some four decades ago.
"We talked after right [Game 1] what he's going to have to do or what are we going to have to do to free him up. We're not going to have to do anything. He's just going to do what he does. He's just going to play hard," Evason said. "Sure, he's got two, three people around him. They're trying to hit him. He's just going to play through it. He just stays the course, just goes about his business."
In case you were wondering, the hats that hit the ice at Xcel Energy Center for hat tricks can be claimed by fans on their way out of the arena. If they're not, they are washed and donated to Children's Minnesota, where they are given to patients.
So even if you tossed your hat in vein, your lid is going to a great cause. And in this case, Kirill had your back.
3. Planting the doubters
Evason doesn't pay much attention to media reports or stories on the TV about the goings on with his own club. Which is probably a good thing, considering it's the playoffs, and it's next to impossible to avoid hockey talk.
With another late puck drop on Wednesday, Evason hinted that he may have overheard some of the national talking heads questioning what the Wild was doing by starting Marc-Andre Fleury in Game 2.
The veteran netminder showed why.

Fleury was sensational in Game 2, making key save after key save, allowing the Wild to take a lead and build on it.
Early in the third period, during a stretch of hockey game where the Wild was really struggling to stay afloat, Fleury played a giant role in keeping Minnesota up by a pair of goals, long enough for a couple of late exclamation points.
"I think it takes experience, time, to learn - years, you know. Playing those late games and coming home, you can't sleep for a while so it's a late night. You try to get some sleep," Fleury said. "The next day I came to the rink and watched tapes, moved around a bit. That's it, it's over. Next day you just come to the rink with a smile.
"I think stay away from media, stay away from social media, stay away from what people think or say and just come back ready to play the next game."
The series would have continued on Friday night even had the Wild lost in Game 2 ... but make no bones about it, after a loss on home ice in the first contest, Wednesday's game was about as close to must-win as it could have been without actually being must-win.

And in that kind of scenario, having a goaltender as calm, cool and collected as Fleury was invaluable.
"I'm glad I don't listen to a lot of the stuff," Evason said. "But I'm glad I don't because it's like, 'what does it matter?' You know he's going to respond properly. It's what he does. It's how he does it. That's why we got him here. And he clearly is a world class goaltender that's won Stanley Cups.
"My gosh if you don't think he's been through a game that maybe the odd bounce didn't go our way, landed on their tape or whatever, I'm pretty sure it doesn't bother him."
Fleury finished the game with 32 saves on 34 shots to earn his first playoff victory in a Wild sweater and 91st postseason win of his NHL career.

Loose pucks

• Kaprizov now has six points in nine career playoff games. Wednesday marked his first career multi-point playoff game
• Zuccarello had two assists
• Jonas Brodin tallied a pair of assists
• Eriksson Ek had an assist in addition to his two goals
• Gaudreau now has five career playoff goals
• Jordan Kyrou and Vladimir Tarasenko had goals for the Blues
• Husso finished with 22 saves on 27 shots

Dan's three stars

1. Kirill Kaprizov
   2. Joel Eriksson Ek
   3. Marc-Andre Fleury

Highlights