Postgame Hat Trick: Wild 4, Coyotes 0

Wild.com's Dan Myers gives three takeaways from the Wild's 4-0 win against the Arizona Coyotes at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul on Friday night:

1. Kirill the Thrill does it again.
So many times over the years, the Wild has been locked in a dogfight like Friday night's game and been unable to create much in the way of offense?
Well, that seemed to be the way things were going again versus the Coyotes, at least until the third period. That's when Kirill Kaprizov simply decided to take the game over.
Almost six minutes into the third period, in a game that was still scoreless, Kaprizov, Victor Rask and Mats Zuccarello put together perhaps its best shift of the night, pressuring in the offensive zone.

Zuccarello and Kaprizov in particular were putting pucks into places where it wouldn't seemingly fit, but the Coyotes did a good enough job clogging the shooting lanes.
Eventually, Kaprizov gained control of the puck at the right circle, turned and fired through traffic, beating goaltender Adin Hill with the assistance of a Coyote defender's skate.
Not bad kid, but he wasn't done.

It took him all of about nine seconds into his next shift to do something special, hopping off the bench, speeding into the offensive zone and scooping up a loose puck before circling the net, turning and firing from the slot. The shot didn't miss, beating Hill under the crossbar.
The two-goal game for Kaprizov was his first in the NHL, and his multi-point game was already his sixth in his first 25 games in the League.

But he still wasn't done.
With under a minute to play, after Jonas Brodin had scored an empty-net goal to seemingly put the final nail in the Coyotes coffin, Zuccarello set up Kaprizov for one final bullet ... a one-timer that beat Hill for his first NHL hat trick.
2. Cam Talbot gave the Wild a chance to win.
Minnesota was flat as a pancake in the opening 10 minutes of the game, with the Coyotes putting seven of the game's first eight shots on goal at Talbot. He turned away each one.
Later in the first, Phil Kessel, the former Gopher and man with 379 career NHL goals, had back-to-back breakaway chances.
Again, Talbot came up with stops on each try.
Kessel had another partial break in the second period, moments after exiting the penalty box. Talbot made the stop.
After surrendering four goals in Arizona six days ago in a 5-2 loss, Talbot was making his first start since that game and was a big reason why Kaprizov's late heroics were even possible.
The shutout was his first as a member of the Wild and 23rd of his NHL career.
With rookie goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen riding an active eight-game winning streak, the veteran Talbot is probably feeling a little pressure to perform. The beneficiary of that good problem to have? The Wild, who would love to see both of their goaltenders get hot as the halfway point of the season approaches.
3. A winning homestand.
No matter what happens in the final two games against Arizona the next few days, the Wild have already secured a winning record on its five-game stretch here at Xcel Energy Center.
But the Wild must get greedy.
The Coyotes now trail the Wild by five points in the West Division standings and Minnesota has a couple games in hand. One or two more wins will really put the Wild in an advantageous position.
In a 56-game season, winning streaks are crucially important. Minnesota already had one six-game streak, and now has put together a three-gamer to go with it. Those two streaks amount to nearly 1/6th of the regular season schedule, and Minnesota's current streak isn't even over yet.