Postgame Hat Trick: Blues 5, Wild 2

Wild.com's Dan Myers gives three takeaways from the Wild's 5-2 loss in Game 5 of its First Round playoff series against the St. Louis Blues at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul on Tuesday night:

1. Must-win time
When the Wild has needed a win all season long, it has usually managed to find a way to win.
The term "must-win game" is an often used cliche in sports, but it's true now for the Wild, which is on the brink in the Stanley Cup Playoffs following Tuesday night's loss.
This best-of-7 series now shifts to St. Louis for Game 6 on Thursday night, and if Minnesota doesn't find a way to win the game, it's magical, record-breaking season will be done.
Win Thursday night and this series will be decided in a Game 7 back at Xcel Energy Center on Saturday.

"We've seen our group respond and we're expecting our group to respond," said Wild coach Dean Evason. "It's a must-win. It's desperation. We're going to play our best game, all the cliches that you want to throw out there. It's one hockey game at a time, and we'll compete our butts off and see where we sit at the end of the night."
The good news for the Wild, beyond its tendency to play its best with its backs against the wall, is that it has already won a game in St. Louis in this series, so it's not as though winning at Enterprise Center is some impossible task.
"Give them credit. They pressed. It is what it is. It's on to Game 6 now," said Wild forward Marcus Foligno. "We've got to control what we can control. It's unfortunate that we didn't have the success that we normally do in third periods and the pressure. It's been a battle. We were mentally prepared for a long battle going into this series. Just have to stay positive and stay with it and move on to Game 6."
This series has also see-saw'd the last four games, with the Wild winning Games 2 and 3 and the Blues taking Games 4 and 5.
Minnesota will need to reverse that trend and win Games 6 and 7 if it wants to take on the Colorado Avalanche in the Second Round.
"I liked our chances after two being tied. We've had so many great third periods throughout the season," said Wild goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury. "They pushed hard to create some chances and buried them. Would have liked to have saved them all, right, and prevent that from happening. But it happened and you gotta put it behind, forget about it quickly and just move on, get ready for the next one.
"Just put it behind quickly. It's the mindset you have to have in the playoffs, doesn't matter win, loss. Put it behind quickly and have the same energy, same jump, same fun starting the game. That's going to be important."
2. Everything changes
Through four games in this series, there were no lead changes. That's right, the team that scored first in each game has ended up winning.
Sunday's Game 4 was the first time that a game was tied at 1-1. Both clubs have managed to score first and never look back until that point, but it wasn't until the first period of Game 5 that a team has held a lead and trailed in the same game.
After Brandon Saad scored his first goal of the postseason late in the second period, knotting the game at 2-2, it was also the first time in this series the game was tied after 40 minutes.
"We did a few uncharacteristic things," Evason said. "Normally we're really resilient in that area, real good. We made some mistakes but they're a good hockey club. It would have been nice for us to collect that third one for sure but probably that second goal, they just throw it and we're in position and they make a good tip obviously. That goal probably hurt us more than anything."
Unfortunately for the Wild the first lead change of the series wasn't the last.
St. Louis would score twice in the opening couple minutes of the third period, with Vladimir Tarasenko accounting for both goals, as the Blues opened up a two-goal advantage late in the game.

"It's tough. You never want to give up those goals right away," Foligno said. "We felt like we were in a good spot to win that game."
Tarasenko would finish off the natural hat trick into an empty cage with 1:33 left in regulation.
"This is gone. We have an opportunity to play another hockey game, and it has to be our best game," Evason said. "We have to get rid of the uncharacteristic mistakes that we had tonight and get the job done there and come back here. That's our focus.
"We're disappointed obviously. We wanted this game for sure. But it didn't go our way so we move on. We've got an opportunity to make a game go our way and then we'll see where we're at."
3. Kirill takes over
Before Tarasenko had two goals in a period, Kirill Kaprizov managed to do the same.
For 20 minutes on Tuesday night, Kaprizov looked like he was going to hoist the Wild on his back and will the team to victory, scoring twice in a span of less than four minutes late in the opening frame and turning a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 lead after one.

"You don't really think about it, you know. You're there to do what you can to help your team win, and focus on the team game," Kaprizov said through a translator. "At the end of the day, that's what I'm there to do is to help the team win in anyway I can. It's not how I feel after scoring the goals. It's really just how can I continue to help my team win the game, and that's all I was thinking."
He was doing silly stuff too, like winning puck battles against 6-foot-6, 230-pound Colton Parayko, then whistling pucks under the cross bar moments later.
"He's unbelievable, right? He's unbelievable. He's physical. It'd be nice to have 20 of them.

"I guess it's tough because it doesn't surprise any of us. It's almost we're just waiting for it. This kid just continues competing his ass off and goals aside, he wants to win. He wills the team. He just didn't have enough guys willing alongside him tonight. But if we had 20 of him, we'd be competing our butts off a little better."

While the Wild has struggled to find consistency in the offensive end this series, Kaprizov has been a constant force and a threat on every shift.
He now has seven goals through five games, which is a Wild franchise record for a single playoff series, besting Marian Gaborik's and Wes Walz's previous mark of five, who each did so in 2003 against Vancouver.
Kaprizov also tied Walz and Andrew Brunette for second-most goals in a single playoff run. They each did it in 2003, and it took them 18 games to do so. He stands only two back of Gaborik's record of nine ... again, done in 18 games.
None of those stats made the defeat any easier for Kaprizov to handle.
"The goal isn't for a player to play well. The goal is for the team to play well, and we didn't win," Kaprizov said. "Ultimately that's what we play for. We have a chance to make some changes to get the series back home for Game 7, and that's what we have to do."
Per NHLStats, the last players to have more than seven goals in a playoff series were Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin back in 2009. One more goal in this series would put him in some pretty solid company.
"The puck control was great all night. He set up some guys. He is who he is. He's a gamebreaker, a game-changer," Foligno said. "He's a big part of our team, obviously, and I just feel like he's going to get better and better. He puts up two. You need secondary scoring. It's on our line to produce. We didn't do that tonight.
"You get two out of your best player and you need other guys following up on it. It is what it is. We expect him to be the same next game and throughout the playoffs. He's been great for us."

Loose pucks

• Kevin Fiala had two assists, giving him multiple points in a playoff game for the first time in his career
• Jared Spurgeon and Mats Zuccarello also had assists
• Zuccarello's assist was the 50th postseason point of his career
• Fleury finished with 27 saves
• Pavel Buchnevich finished with two assists
• Justin Faulk also had with two assists
• Jordan Binnington earned the victory by stopping 30 of 32 shots

Dan's three stars

1. Vladimir Tarasenko
   2. Jordan Binnington
   3. Kirill Kaprizov

Highlights