Cam Talbot and Adin Hill were locked in a goaltender duel for two periods.
Then Kirill Kaprizov interfered.
The rookie scored his first career hat trick in the third period, leading the Wild to a 4-0 win over the Coyotes at Xcel Energy Center that counted as the team's sixth straight victory on home ice.
Kaprizov resolved a scoreless struggle 5 minutes, 47 seconds into the third when he slung a shot through traffic by Hill.
Just 2:23 later, he added a second when he veered around the net and into the slot for another clean wrist shot.
And after Jonas Brodin scored into an empty net with 59 seconds to go, Kaprizov completed his hat trick only 10 seconds later — one-timing in a Mats Zuccarello pass.
Not only does Kaprizov lead the Wild in points with 23, but he also paces all NHL rookies in goals (10), assists (13) and points.
Hill finished with 28 saves, while Talbot had 25 in his first game since last Saturday — a 5-2 loss in Arizona. Kaapo Kahkonen worked two games after that, backstopping the Wild to a pair of wins over the West Division leading Golden Knights. But Talbot picked up where Kahkonen left off, helping the Wild get to 3-0 on a homestand that continues Sunday afternoon for the second of three in a row against the Coyotes.
This was Talbot's first shutout of the season.
While the Wild gained ground on Arizona, now sitting five points ahead of its West Division rival, the team's manpower took a hit in the process.
Winger Marcus Foligno exited the game in the first period after taking a Jonas Brodin shot off the lower right leg and did not return.
Foligno was slow to get to the bench after the play and once there, he hobbled to the tunnel before getting helped away from the ice.
His absence only emphasized a rough start for the Wild, which typically has fared well in first periods.
Not this game, even though the team didn't give up a goal. That credit goes to Talbot, who was steady early — including twice on breakaways for Phil Kessel. The Wild also killed off two penalties in the first and four overall.
After a look late in the first, the Wild would go on the power play three more times in the second and one of those would carry over to the third.
But the Wild didn't capitalize and went 0-for-4. This letdown came after the NHL's worst power play shook off a 0-for-20 funk Wednesday, scoring for just the sixth time this season.
That the Wild had a tough time with the man advantage wasn't a surprise, but the team's difficulty scoring at even strength was.
Entering the game, the Wild had scored the most goals in the league since Feb.18 with 45. The team is also in the top-10 for offense at 5-on-5 and had buried three or more goals in nine of its previous 12 games.
But not until the third period when Kaprizov exploited space in Arizona's end did the Wild finally convert.
Aside from taking shifts with his assigned linemates in Victor Rask and Mats Zuccarello, Kaprizov was also filling in for Foligno next to Jordan Greenway and Joel Eriksson Ek.
And the extra reps didn't seem to bother Kaprizov, who secured his second game-winner of the season.
As for Talbot, he was just as solid in the third as he was in the first — fending off nine tries by the Coyotes in the final period to notch the 23rd shutout of his career.
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