Postgame Hat Trick: Wild 2, Maple Leafs 0

Wild.com's Dan Myers gives three takeaways from the Wild's 2-0 win against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul on Thursday night:

1. For the second time in a week, Alex Stalock earned a win over his former team. This time, he earned the shutout, becoming the first Minnesota native to do so in a Wild uniform.
Sure, the win against the Maple Leafs may not have been as sentimental as the one in San Jose on Sunday; the Sharks are the team that drafted and developed the former UMD Bulldog.
But it was the Leafs who traded for Stalock two years ago and chose not to play him, instead sending him to the American Hockey League.
The South St. Paul native eventually went home, signing a one-year contract with Minnesota two summers ago in an effort to re-establish his career, first in Iowa by earning a contract extension, then winning the job as the Wild's backup this year.

"[Shutting out the Leafs] adds to the excitement, but it's a huge two points and take a look at the standings and just hopefully keep moving up," Stalock said.
With Devan Dubnyk week-to-week with a lower-body injury, the crease will belong to Stalock for the foreseeable future, and on Thursday he didn't disappoint, making 28 saves for his fifth victory in eight starts. The shutout was the fifth of his NHL career and first since March 2, 2015, when he made 20 stops to blank the Montreal Canadiens as a member of the Sharks.
"Thanks for the reminder. It's been that long?" Stalock fired back when asked about the nearly three-year run between shutouts. "That's good. Anytime you can do that it's fun, obviously.
"That's a team shutout, man. It was making saves that I needed to, really, like I talked about this morning, and it was a great team game. That's what we talked about all day."

Minnesota limited Toronto to just 12 shots through 40 minutes, but weathered a 16-shot barrage in the third period. Each time, Stalock was there to make the stop.

"He played great. He came to the fore," said Wild coach Bruce Boudreau. "They had a lot of chances in the third I thought. Whether they were snake-bitten because they haven't scored a lot of goals lately either or Alex was there, he made the save."
2. Fresh off a healthy scratch against Calgary on Tuesday, Tyler Ennis gave the Wild the lead.
It's been a consistent trend of late; Boudreau has rotated through his fourth-line forward group, scratching Matt Cullen, Chris Stewart and Ennis before sitting Marcus Foligno on Thursday.
Each time, the scratched player has responded with a strong game the next time out.
Cullen was scratched in Anaheim last week and responded with a strong game in San Jose to cap the trip before scoring his 250th NHL goal last time out against the Flames.
Stewart, who didn't play against the Sharks, was noticeable versus Calgary and scored a critical goal in the shootout, one Minnesota eventually won to earn the bonus point.
"It's great. That's one of the things about this team, it's got really good character and they really care," Boudreau said. "So when they sit down, I have a little talk with them. It's usually a positive situation, but the character comes through and they play a lot better."
Thursday, it was Ennis' turn, as he bumfuzzled Leafs goaltender Frederik Andersen 18:06 into the game on a shot from near the right post after an effective forecheck by the Wild.
Credit Zack Mitchell and Stewart for forcing the Leafs into a bad clearing attempt, one that was settled by Ryan Suter at the left point. He rimmed the puck down low to Ennis, who got loose near the far side post and flipped it inside the pipe for his sixth goal of the season.

"It was my first time being a healthy scratch, so obviously it's tough," Ennis said. "Nobody wants to be in the press box. But, you gotta be determined, you gotta continue to get better. We gotta keep rolling."
Suter was credited with the lone assist and now has a three-game streak of posting one helper.
"Obviously we have a lot of good players here, and it's tough on Bruce picking who's going to be out," Suter said of the healthy scratch situation. "But everyone has a good attitude and they show up to work and him getting rewarded is a good thing for us."
As noted by one local writer on Twitter, the Oilers might be wise to simply shadow Foligno on Saturday afternoon.
3. Mikael Granlund provided a critical insurance goal in the third period as Minnesota worked a textbook cycle down low.
It was quite the shift for Granlund, Eric Staal and Nino Niederreiter. The Wild hadn't done much offensively to that point in the shift, going without even a shot for nearly seven minutes.
Shortly after Ennis broke that skid with a grade-A chance of his own, the Staal line set up shop, with Granlund and Niederreiter doing work along the goal line. Niederreiter left the puck for Staal behind the net while Granlund went to the top of the crease, where Staal found him with a perfect backhand pass.
Granlund's finish was the easy part, as he ripped a one-timer past Andersen for his seventh goal and first since Nov. 30 against Vegas.

"[Granlund] getting in the right position and Eric making a great play. That's how that happens," Boudreau said. "It was something that we really [needed]."
Minnesota loosened up after that and secured its fourth consecutive victory and sixth in its past seven.
"I think they're playing good despite still missing some very key ingredients," Boudreau said. "When we can band together like that that's what makes a positive and we're starting to have success at home and making it difficult for other teams to come into this building. That's good."

Loose pucks

• Minnesota has won five straight home games and has points in eight straight at Xcel Energy Center, registering a 7-0-1 record here since Nov. 14.
• The Wild has earned at least one point in 13 of its last 17 games (12-4-1) since Nov. 9 - leading the NHL in wins and points during that stretch.
• Minnesota killed all four Toronto power plays, including two in the first with the game still scoreless and one late in the third protecting a two-goal lead.
• Andersen finished with 24 saves on 26 shots.
• Attendance: 18,857

He said it

"He works so hard in practice and is such a good teammate, every time he's in there, you want to make sure you play hard for him." -- Wild defenseman Ryan Suter on Alex Stalock

They said it

"They're a strong defensive team. It kind of reminded me of a lot of similar stuff they did to us last time and they do a good job of making it tough to get inside and penetrate towards their net. I felt we had a couple of decent looks, especially in the third period, but the goalie made some good saves too." -- Maple Leafs forward James van Riemsdyk

Three stars

* Alex Stalock
\\ Tyler Ennis
\\* Mikael Granlund