Game Recap: Wild 6, Predators 1

NASHVILLE -- Connor Dewar scored his first NHL hat trick and had an assist, and the Minnesota Wild ended the Nashville Predators’ six-game winning streak with a 6-1 victory at Bridgestone Arena on Thursday.

“I find in this league, it’s kind of a streaky league,” Dewar said. “When you get confident, you get hot. Hopefully I get on a roll here.”

Kirill Kaprizov had a goal and an assist for the Wild (7-10-4), who have won two straight games under new coach John Hynes. Filip Gustavsson made 26 saves.

Hynes was hired by Minnesota on Monday and won 3-1 in his debut against the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday. He spent four seasons as Nashville’s coach before he was fired May 30.

“I just think we did what we wanted to do, which was continue to build off the identity and the mindset that we played with against St. Louis,” Hynes said. “I thought the guys played with good energy -- we’re playing a fast game. They’re competing really, really hard. I think our puck execution and puck decisions have been strong.”

Juuso Parssinen scored for the Predators (11-11-0), who were going for their first seven-game winning streak since Dec. 4-17, 2021. Juuse Saros allowed four goals on 15 shots before being replaced by Kevin Lankinen in the second period. Lankinen stopped 14 of 16 shots faced in relief.

“Not the performance we need,” Nashville forward Ryan O'Reilly said. “That’s not us. It’s disappointing because that’s a divisional team. That’s a big game for us. It’s definitely disappointing, but we have to move on and kind of regroup here, and just get back and keep going ahead.”

Dewar gave the Wild a 1-0 lead at 6:08 of the first period on a rebound off a shot from Brandon Duhaime on the rush.

“It was great to see,” Hynes said of Dewar’s hat trick. “It’s hard to score in the League, never mind three in one game, but it was good. That line was very good tonight and I thought they actually played very well against St. Louis. It’s nice when you can get production throughout your lineup. Congrats to him, he certainly earned it.”

Jake Middleton made it 2-0 at 14:01, scoring on a backhand from the left circle. Dewar had the secondary assist.

Kaprizov extended it to 3-0 with a power-play goal 31 seconds later on a one-timer off a cross-ice pass from Mats Zuccarello. Zuccarello extended his point streak to eight games.

Pat Maroon pushed it to 4-0 at 1:43 of the second period on a redirection of a shot from the point by Alex Goligoski.

“It’s completely different teams, I would say,” Maroon said of Minnesota over the past two games. “Wouldn’t you think? For us right now, we’re playing faster. We’re getting up in the play. We’re three-quarter icing them right now. We have good gaps. We’re back-pressuring and closing in on them fast, and we have fast transition right now. The faster you play like that, the faster you get on offense.”

Saros was replaced by Lankinen after Maroon’s goal.

“I think lack of execution, lack of will,” Predators coach Andrew Brunette said of Nashville’s performance. “We knew coming in we were facing a really hungry team that was going to be highly motivated, and we didn’t match the intensity. And when you don’t match the intensity in this League, you don’t win too many nights.”

Dewar made it 5-0 at 11:12 on a breakaway, entering the zone on a pass from Kaprizov.

Parssinen cut it to 5-1 at 2:37 of the third period on a redirection.

Dewar completed the hat trick at 9:47, scoring off a rebound in the crease for the 6-1 final.

NOTES: Dewar became the first Wild player age 24 or younger with a four-point game since Kaprizov on April 22, 2022 (one goal, three assists in a 6-3 win against the Seattle Kraken). ... Zuccarello has 10 points (two goals, eight assists) during his eight-game point streak. … Predators defenseman Alexandre Carrier left the game after taking a hit from Kaprizov in the first period; Brunette did not have an update. … Predators forward Gustav Nyquist’s nine-game point streak ended (two goals, nine assists).