Postgame Hat Trick: Wild 5, Sharks 4 (OT)

Wild.com's Dan Myers gives three takeaways from the Wild's 5-4 overtime win against the San Jose Sharks at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul on Sunday night:

1. Playoff-bound
Minnesota needed one point on Sunday night to achieve a playoff berth for the ninth time in the past 10 years and the 12th time in franchise history.
It did one better.
It wasn't pretty at times, and Minnesota needed an unexpected third-period comeback against a Sharks team that will not be partaking in the postseason festivities.
But ...
"I don't think it was the best game we've played as a team," said Wild forward Matt Boldy. "But take the two points I guess."

With 101 points already in the satchel this season, it would take quite the collapse for Minnesota to finish anywhere outside the second and third spots in the Central Division. That likely playoff matchup against the Blues became even more likely with St. Louis' win Sunday in Nashville.
Now, the focus turns to home ice in that series. The Blues have a one point edge in the standings. The Wild has one game in hand. Minnesota has seven games remaining, with five of them coming on home ice, including five of the final six after a one-off in Montreal on Tuesday night.

"I think you guys look at it more than we do. We're pretty comfortable playing either place, and come playoff time you're gonna have to win on the road as well," said Wild captain Jared Spurgeon. "Obviously we have great fans here and that'd be ideal to start at home. But if that's not what happens, that's not gonna really faze us. We have some games here coming up that we gotta shore our game up, and just get to feeling like we're playing at our best going into playoffs."
While the playoffs sure seemed like a formality, there's something special about having it be official.

"It's nice to clinch. I wish it was under better circumstances. We didn't play that well. Hopefully this is a game that's a one-off, because you don't want to be having the run-and-gun games like this so late in the year," said Wild defenseman Jake Middleton, a former Shark. "But definitely a nice feeling to clinch -- my first time, too, so it's pretty cool."
2. Four-point night for Fiala
Wild forward Kevin Fiala is on another planet right now.
Two games after Fiala tallied three points in a 3-2 victory over the Dallas Stars, Fiala outdid himself on Sunday night, securing four points in yet another OT win.

And he earned every single one of those points on this night, making an impact all over the ice sheet in helping the Wild overcome a gutty effort from the young Sharks, who did everything they could to delay the Wild's clinching.
Fiala assisted on Dmitry Kulikov's first-period goal, assisted on Boldy's second-period tally then scored the game-tying goal 8:54 into the third period.
He appeared to score the winning goal in overtime too, but replay showed Jared Spurgeon deflecting the shot on it's way, meaning he had to "settle" for a one-goal, three-assist evening.

For Fiala, it was his second four-point night in the NHL and the three helpers established a new career best.
"Yeah, he's hot, for sure," Boldy said. "Him and Freddy [Gaudreau], they've both been unreal. Seems almost normal at this point because I've played with them a lot and you expect those guys to make those plays, and you know they can so you put your trust in them.
"I think a lot of our success kinda comes from that, having confidence in each other that we can make those plays, and if you just found those open areas they're going to get the puck, too. It's been fun playing them, for sure."
Like they were in Dallas, that line was outstanding from the drop of the puck.
Gaudreau had three assists and Boldy had one goal and one assist.

"That line clearly was dominant in all areas. We felt very comfortable playing them at the end of the game," Evason said. "They weren't doing anything negatively on the other side of the puck either and in our zone."
What makes the Wild such a dangerous team is the fact that it has at least two lines that on any given night can be elite scoring lines.
While the line of Ryan Hartman, Kirill Kaprizov and Mats Zuccarello carried the mail in a big way in Saturday's game in St. Louis, they were quiet on this night.
And it still worked out for the Wild because the Gaudreau-Fiala-Boldy line was so good.
Evason liked the other lines too, even though they didn't fit into the scoring.
"We had one line that was really going, and one line that was really not going and they're accountable. They know," Evason said. "We had 2 other lines that were real good too we thought for the most part. Especially the Dewar line was real good. But Kevin's just played hard. He's played hard. He's played heavy, hard minutes. It's not as much cute stuff. It's hard, straight forward and he's getting rewarded for it."
3. A couple for the captain
Spurgeon just didn't want to cede that 30th goal of the season in overtime to Fiala ... the game-winning goal was originally credited to the Wild winger, but it was indeed Spurgeon's pretty deflection that knocked the puck off track on its way to goaltender James Reimer.

"It just hit me," Spurgeon said. "I honestly didn't even move my stick. We're just happy with the two points."
It was Spurgeon's second goal of the game and third tally by a Wild defenseman; Dmitry Kulikov got the party started on Sunday with his sixth goal of the season.

Spurgeon now has nine goals on the year. One more goal would give him double digits for the fifth time in his career.
The Wild captain now has 10 points in his past 11 games and leads team blueliners with 38 points. He sits just two goals shy of 100 for his career.

Loose pucks

• The Wild extended its home point streak to 11 games, going 10-0-1 during that span
• Minnesota improved to 27-6-2 on home ice
• The Wild has scored three or more goals in 16 of its past 17 games
• The attendance Sunday was 19,029, the 700th regular season sellout in Wild history
• Minnesota now has 100-plus points for a fifth time in franchise history
• Marc-Andre Fleury made 26 saves, improving to 6-1-0 with a 2.59 goals-against average and .921 save percentage
• Jordie Benn had an assist, and now has three helpers in his past five games
• Nick Bonino and Rudolfs Balcers had a goal and an assist apiece for the Sharks
• San Jose's Brent Burns had two assists
• Reimer finished with 23 saves

Dan's three stars

1. Kevin Fiala
   2. Matt Boldy
   3. Freddy Gaudreau

Highlights