Postgame Hat Trick: Wild 5, Islanders 2

Wild.com's Dan Myers gives three takeaways from the Wild's 5-2 win against the New York Islanders at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul on Sunday night:

1. Not your every-day, garden-variety Wild comeback
The Wild has had a flair for the dramatic this season, coming back from multi-goal deficits a couple of times late in games, with empty nets, with extra attackers, etc ... and technically, Sunday's win will also go down as a comeback victory.
This one was a little less stressful.

Unlike Minnesota's 5-4 shootout victory in Pittsburgh just 24 hours prior, a game where the Wild scored twice with goaltender Cam Talbot on the bench for an extra skater, Minnesota got the tying goal from Ryan Hartman with just under 13 minutes to play, then the eventual game-winning tally by Brandon Duhaime 121 seconds later.
So while the Wild did indeed erase a one-goal deficit in the final period, it also led for the entire second half of the final period too.

"It's stressful going into that third period, but at the same time, we've done it so many times that it almost feels normal at this rate," Duhaime said. "It just shows the resilience in the group, and we stick together until the end."
Up 3-2 late, it was the Islanders who were forced to pull goaltender Semyon Varlamov. But there would be no miracle comeback on this night, as Jonas Brodin scored into an empty cage, followed by Matt Dumba into another barren crease 58 seconds after that.
By no means what a normal fan would call a "comfortable" win, but by the Wild's standards, this one was downright cozy.

"You'd like to win like that a little more," said Wild coach Dean Evason. "We've shown, obviously, to come back but to play in tonight's hockey game and not try to like we get down a couple of times and not push the envelope not cheat not pinch irresponsibly and not lose guys. We really stayed the course and we talked about this game before being a measuring type of stick for us. It's one example ... [but] that's a great hockey club that's done a lot of real good things in this league. We did some things that mirrored them a little bit. So I think if you can do that, we put ourselves in a good spot."
2. That's more like it
Duhaime scored his first NHL goal on Oct. 23 against Anaheim. It came when his stick fell on the ground in front of the Ducks net, and as he bent down to pick it up, a shot from the point bounced off his skate and past the goaltender.
He admitted after the game that, while he certainly wasn't going to dwell on it, it wasn't exactly the first goal he had dreamed about his entire life.
Well, goal No. 2 on Sunday night resembled something a little closer to what he was hoping for.

After seeing an apparent second-period goal changed later to Nick Bjugstad, Duhaime made sure his second goal would count .... for real this time, rifling a shot through a defenseman and under the crossbar.
The goal gave Minnesota its first lead of the game and came two minutes after Ryan Hartman evened the game with a snipe of his own.

After making a nifty pass from behind the net to Nick Bjugstad in front - a scoring chance that was denied by Varlamov - Duhaime gathered in the rebound, then fired at the cage, bouncing the shot off a defender courtesy of a Bjugstad screen in front, for his second goal of the campaign.
Named the game's No. 1 star, the effort was Duhaime's first multi-point game in the NHL and the goal was his first career game-winner.
"I think just time in the league and time in games and really feeling out the league [has given me confidence]," Duhaime said. "It's important to everyday come in, whether it's practice, game, day off to take care of yourself, come in, work hard, whatever it is. You keep doing that, things will get better eventually."
The goal itself continues a trend for the Wild, which has seemingly witnessed a different hero on a nightly basis.

"Yeah it's nice to have everybody. You feel part of it right? Everybody feels part of it," Evason said. "We talked a lot about trusting our teammates. The nice thing is, one guy steps up, or a line steps up one night, the so-called top line doesn't get upset like, 'Why didn't I get the points?' Who cares about points? We get two points and that's what our group cares about. They're not worried about their individual stats.
"They're just as happy as the other group, the other line, the other D pair, whatever it may be on that given night. It's nice to get a good team feel."
3. Kaapo gets the 'W'
It hasn't been easy for Kaapo Kahkonen to start the season. A terrific start to the year by Talbot, combined with a schedule that has allowed the Wild to ride the hot hand, meant Kahkonen started for just the second time in 11 games this season on Sunday.
Playing a position where getting into a groove and seeing pucks can be so important, a limited workload makes it hard for a goaltender to do much of either.
Starting for the first time since Oct. 24, Kahkonen made the most of his opportunity, stopping 19 of 21 shots against one of the best teams in the NHL in earning his first win of the season.

"I felt pretty good. We had a good week of practice this week, so that probably helps," Kahkonen said. "I mean, doesn't really matter how often you play or if you play every night, you just gotta try to do the same thing every time you get to go out there, and tonight it worked."
Regardless of how he felt, Kahkonen looked calm ... a trait that has become the hallmark of his veteran goalie partner with the Wild.
"Real good. Real calm, real solid," Evason said. "The one goes through him, but it's a bang-bang play. It's really quick. But he seemed real calm, right? We talk about Cam being calm and relaxed back there. It helps our group calm down and Kaapo did the same thing here tonight."
With another set of back-to-back games coming up in Arizona and Las Vegas this week, Kahkonen may not have to wait as long for his next chance to see the ice.
Playing a solid game and contributing in a big way in a victory gives him confidence, but he said the lack of recent playing time didn't make him feel any added pressure.
"I don't feel that way. I mean, it's not really my call that who plays and every time I get to play, you just try, you've got to play well. That's all you can really do. And that should be enough I guess," Kahkonen said.

Loose pucks

• The four goals scored in the third period was the most by the Wild in any period yet this season
• Hartman tallied his first multi-point game of the season and is averaging a point per game over his past five
• Dumba had a goal and an assist in the game, and now has a helper in four straight games
• Dmitry Kulikov had an assist, his fourth of the season, which ties his season total from last year
• Bjugstad's goal was his second of the year and came 24 hours after he scored the deciding goal in the fourth round of the shootout in Pittsburgh
• Varlamov stopped 34 of 37 shots in his first action of the season
• Former Wild forward Zach Parise finished the game a minus-2 with two PIMs
• Former Edina and St. Thomas Academy standout Anders Lee scored both Islander goals
• Mat Barzal had a pair of assists for New York

Dan's three stars

1. Brandon Duhaime
   2. Ryan Hartman
   3. Kaapo Kahkonen

Highlights