Postgame Hat Trick: Wild 3, Kings 2

Wild.com's Dan Myers gives three takeaways from the Wild's 3-2 win against the Los Angeles Kings at Staples Center in Los Angeles on Saturday night:

1. Got your back
With the Wild leading 2-1 late in the second period, Brandon Duhaime appeared to score his first NHL goal on a play where he absolutely deserved to score his first NHL goal. It has been two games, and Duhaime has looked exactly like he did in the exhibition season, where he overcame a pair of first-round draft picks - among others - to win an NHL gig.
But after scoring a goal that will probably become a very Brandon Duhaime-like goal moving forward, the NHL decided it shouldn't count because Jonathan Quick's pad was pushed over the line by a stick.
It could have been a defining moment in the game, with the Wild unable to push its one-goal lead to two, throwing the Kings a lifeline headed to the third.
Instead, Minnesota came right back and made it a two-goal game anyway.
This time, it was Ryan Hartman burying a top-shelf snipe over Kings defenseman Drew Doughty, who had hounded the Wild forward all over the ice for the better part of an entire shift ... and Hartman let him know it.

"That's just the emotion of battling," Hartman said. "That's the type of hockey our line especially, but our team brings. That energy and that excitement kind of boiled over a little bit."
Ironically, Hartman admitted that he himself had his first NHL goal disallowed when he played for the Blackhawks against the Wild at Xcel Energy Center on Oct. 30, 2015.
Hartman had scored a goal when an offsides review determined that his goal wouldn't count.
Still, he said he knows the emotion of scoring that goal, then having it wiped away a moment or two later.

"Not the same exact thing, but I remember that feeling a little bit," Hartman said. "You get up and you get all excited and you gotta wait, obviously they took awhile to decide. But he's gonna get it. He's been playing great, he's all around that net and he had a fair share of [chances] tonight as well. So it's only a matter of time."
Hartman's pick-me-up came just 27 seconds after Duhaime's near goal, but wasn't the result of any sort of rah-rah speech from the head coach.
"We knew it could go either way. We talked to [video coaches] Jonas [Plumb] and T.J. [Jindra] and they said it was probably going to get overturned. We didn't even talk to the guys on the bench," Evason said. "I think [Marcus Foligno] said something like, 'no matter what, we're playing good right now, let's just keep going.' We've talked about it before, where it's sure nice when the players talk like that and the coaches don't have to."
2. Reaping what you sow
Freddy Gaudreau was incredibly impactful Friday night in the season opener against the Anaheim Ducks, but wasn't rewarded on the scoresheet.
Perhaps fittingly, he was rewarded for that effort on Saturday, finishing off a feed from Kevin Fiala early in the second period, which at the time, tied the game at 1-1.
Gaudreau was outstanding all over the ice and was a constant thorn in the Ducks' side on Friday, and started the same way on Saturday.

"That's him. He's sound," Evason said of Gaudreau on Friday night. "He's got such great stick skills. He can stick-handle in a phone booth. But he's heavy and he's gritty. He bears down in the right areas, and he plays the game the right way. That's why he's here in the National Hockey League."
He showed those skills on his goal Saturday, first winning a 1-on-1 race to a loose puck to preserve possession in the offensive zone, then camping out in the slot, banging home a one-timer feed from Fiala behind the net to get Minnesota on the board.
Gaudreau's goal came 54 seconds after former Milwaukee Admirals teammate Viktor Arvidsson opened scoring with his first goal in a Kings uniform.
Gaudreau, who was put with Fiala largely because of their past relationship with the Admirals as well, has rewarded Evason's decision to reunite them with a pair of strong games to start the season.

"We just tried to bring our momentum back right after and it was a good feeling to get that first one," Gaudreau said. "We had some good times in Milwaukee, and I just want to keep building on becoming a better player every day. What I know about Kevin is, he can make those special play.I just try and get available for him and trust that he's going to make those plays because most of the time, he does make those good passes. I just want to keep building on that chemistry and it's exciting to play with him."
Added Evason: "I think you saw it last night, saw it again tonight, some of the plays, the little sauce passes ... that are landing on each other's tape. It's a chemistry of knowing the speed of each other as well, that you can flow to sauce passes and it lands on his tape and not in his skates. We knew from the past, obviously, that they can play together and their chemistry is getting better and better."
3. A SoCal sweep to start
It was a long time coming for the Wild, which was one of the final five teams to get its regular season kicked off when it took to the ice in Anaheim on Friday night.
And just 24 hours after starting the campaign with a 2-1 victory at the Honda Center, the Wild actually sits all alone atop the Central Division standings with four points.

"You want to see your group play hard for each other and with each other, for sure," Evason said. "But to get rewarded, to reinforce that we're not only doing the right things systematically, but we're doing the right things together."
Of course, there are 80 games left to play ... so looking at the standings now is the definition of insanity. Plenty will change between now and Christmas, much less the end of the first weekend, but getting a pair of wins, on the road, in tough buildings, against improved teams from a year ago should hopefully be a harbinger of good things.
The current lineup is also 2-0 on the young season, as Evason avoided making any changes to the group on night two ... even in goal, allowing Cam Talbot an opportunity to follow up an outstanding start in Anaheim with another in L.A.
Once again, the veteran answered the call, finishing with 29 saves on 31 shots.
Through two starts, Talbot has a 1.51 goals-against average and a .950 save percentage. Probably not a sustainable pace over the course of an entire season, but it certainly beats the alternative.

"He's been great. I know it's early in the year, goalies typically don't make back-to-backs too often anymore, but it's early and he felt good. He looked good as well," Hartman said. "He's calm, he's collected and makes the big saves when he has to, and that's what you need from your starting goalie."
And between the late start to the season, a team bonding trip to Duluth and the early road trip, the Wild hasn't spent much time at home yet.
That will change Tuesday night when the Wild hosts the Winnipeg Jets in the home opener at Xcel Energy Center.
It will be the Wild's first meaningful regular season game against a non-West Division opponent since March 3, 2020 and first against Winnipeg since Jan. 4, 2020, a span of 651 days.
"We're definitely excited to get back home," Hartman said. "We got four points and that was our goal."

Loose pucks

• Fiala, Kaprizov and Foligno each tallied assists on Saturday and had at least a point in each of the first two games.
• Dmitry Kulikov had an assist on Gaudreau's goal for his first point in a Wild uniform.
• Jordan Greenway earned the second assist on Hartman's goal for his first point of the year.
• Los Angeles had four power plays in the game, converting on one. Minnesota had just one man advantage and did not connect.
• Kings goaltender Jonathan Quick stopped 27 of 30 shots in a losing effort. He also had an assist.
• Anze Kopitar followed up his five-point Opening Night by scoring a third-period goal that made it 3-2. Kopitar became one of three Kings in franchise history to have a hat trick on Opening Night.
• Doughty had two assists and now has five helpers through two games.

Dan's three stars

1. Freddy Gaudreau
   2. Cam Talbot
   3. Ryan Hartman

Highlights