Postgame Hat Trick: Wild 5, Canucks 2

Wild.com's Dan Myers gives three takeaways from the Wild's 5-2 win against the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia on Friday night:

1. Zach Parise continued his stellar play, extending his scoring streak to six games.
It didn't take Parise long to bump that number up either, as he scored his seventh goal of the season 1:42 into the game, erasing a Canucks goal that came less than a minute in.

The goal was vintage Parise, jamming away at a loose puck along the goal line below the left circle then firing a quick shot from an impossible angle that appeared to glance in off the goaltender's back.
Parise has now scored a goal in three straight games and in four of his past five overall.
2. Another game, another Eric Staal goal.
From the redundant headline desk, yes, Staal tallied another goal on Friday, moving him to 37 on the season. He is now one goal shy of Marian Gaborik's 38 goals scored in 2005-06 for the second-most in a single season in team history, and five short of Gaborik's 42 goals in 2007-08, which remains the most in one campaign in franchise history.

Staal's 37 goals are the fourth-most in the NHL this season and his most since he tallied 40 for the Carolina Hurricanes nearly a decade ago.
The 2018 All-Star has now scored a stupefying 18 goals in his past 20 games dating back to Jan. 25. He also has 27 points during that stretch.
3. The win was an important one in the standings for the Wild.
Earlier in the evening, 2,200 miles to the southeast, the Dallas Stars rallied from a third-period deficit to win 2-1 against the Anaheim Ducks, briefly moving to within one point of the Wild in the Central Division standings.

It wasn't always pretty for Minnesota on Friday, but the victory in Vancouver preserved the three-point lead in the division the Wild began the day with, and moved it back within six points of the Winnipeg Jets for second in the division.
The victory also snapped a brief two-game losing streak on the road and got the icky taste out of the team's mouth following disappointing efforts in Arizona and Colorado last weekend.
Minnesota will try and keep the good times rolling on the road on Saturday when it plays the second of back-to-back games one Canadian province east against the Edmonton Oilers.
Related:
- Wild ready to fix road woes in Vancouver