Postgame Hat Trick: Wild 5, Lightning 2

Wild.com's Phil Ervin gives three takeaways from the Wild's 5-2 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday at Xcel Energy Center:

1. The Wild avoided the letdown coaches and general managers dread coming off the disruptive-yet-restful NHL bye week.
And good thing, too, considering the Central Division
becomes a tougher field seemingly by the day
. Minnesota came out with an early edge, highlighted by a 10-man scrum instigated by Nate Prosser, who stood up for teammate Tyler Ennis after he took a big hit from Ryan Callahan.
"I thought we were really ready," Wild coach Bruce Boudreau said. The coach said he looked up at the scoreboard in the second and saw a 22-9 shots advantage in his clubs favor and "thought we must be doing a pretty good job.
"If you remember yesterday's practice (the first off the bye) it was probably the loudest practice we've had as far as guys being talkative. Same with morning skate today, and it would've been a crime if they didn't come out with the same energy they've had in the last two days."

From here, the Wild hosts Ottawa on Monday, then heads to Pittsburgh for a Thursday game before next weekend's All-Star break.
Knocking off the League standings' top team -- one that shut out Minnesota 3-0 two days before Christmas -- in convincing fashion was an ideal start to the stretch run.
"I think we were pretty well-prepared," winger Zach Parise said. "We knew how good that team is and how dangerous they are. ... We took the play to them, and that can be frustrating for their offensive guys when you're just playing 'D' the whole time."
2. It took him eight games, but Parise found the net for the first time this season.
"I'm sure it's taken a little bit of a load off his mind," Boudreau said. "I thought he was better tonight. If he's going to continually get better, that's a great sign."
Indeed, Parise had been in the right spots since his Jan. 2 return from a back injury that kept him out of Minnesota's first 39 games. His marker itself was a typical No. 11 sequence, as he positioned himself at the top of the crease and deflected home a shot from defenseman Ryan Suter.

That gave the Wild (25-17-5) a 2-0 lead at 17:24 of the first period, and Minnesota was in control the rest of the way.
"It was a lucky one, I guess," Parise said. "We've been, as a line, doing some good things and individually thought I was doing some good things. It's nice to get rewarded."
3. Parise wasn't the only Minnesotan to continue the Wild's trend of standout Hockey Day Minnesota performances.
Prosser scored from virtually the same spot (albeit a different end of Xcel Energy Center) as his 2014 overtime game winner on the same day Hockey Day took place in his home town of Elk River. Called up Friday from Iowa, Kyle Rau made his Wild debut and notched an assist on Prosser's goal.
And Moorhead and St. Cloud State's own Matt Cullen assisted on Marcus Foligno's goal 3:10 into the third period that gave Minnesota a 4-1 advantage. It was the 41-year-old's 700th point and came with a standing ovation from the 19,007 fans in attendance.
"That was pretty awesome," Cullen said. "I was kind of caught off guard by that."

"That is crazy. That is crazy," Prosser said of all four Minnesotan skaters finding the score sheet. "This Hockey Day thing has become such a big deal, and all the guys kind of yelling about, 'Minnesota guys, money on the board,' kind of stuff like that."

Loose pucks

• After taking the hit from Callahan, Ennis did not return to the ice until the second period. Boudreau said after the game he was in the NHL's concussion protocol during the first period's remainder.
• In his first game since the birth of his third child, Dawson, on Monday, Dubnyk stopped 21 of 23 shots to move to 14-3-2 sine Nov. 9. He even assisted on Jason Zucker's empty-net goal for Dubnyk's third point of the season.
• Lightning center Brayden Point scored both goals for Tampa Bay (31-12-3), while Andrei Vasilevskiy made 30 saves. Tampa Bay has now surrendered 26 goals in its past six games and is 0-2 coming off its bye week.
• The Wild improved to 9-2-1 on Hockey Day Minnesota and is 13-1-3 in its past 17 home games.

He said it

"I've been scoreboard watching since (our season opener at) Detroit. ... Every game is vital."
-- Boudreau, when asked about the team's urgency with the Western Conference playoff race heating up

They said it

"I think we're coming ready to play and we're trying, it's just not going our way at the start of the game. Hopefully that turns around. ... We know what we have in this room. We've got a lot of skill and know we can win games and play a certain way to win games. I think we've kind of gotten away from that in the last couple games."
-- Point on his team's recent struggles

Three stars

\Nate Prosser
\Matt Cullen
*Joel Eriksson Ek