1. Jumping the Jets
Coming home, following a week-long road trip, against a crabby Jets club that was winless in four consecutive and coming off a shutout in Columbus on Wednesday, this Black Friday matinee had all the makings of a grinder for the home club.
Instead, it was never really much of a contest. Minnesota scored early - and it scored often - in a blowout win of its Central Division neighbor.
Video: WPG@MIN: Goligoski scores in 1st period
"It's tough when you fly and then get a day off, then Thanksgiving you're probably eating a little bit more than you should, and then you come and don't even get a morning skate," said Wild goaltender Cam Talbot. "It's probably a good sign that we came out and played the way we did.
"We played a heck of a team game. We had a lot of jump from the get go. We knew that this was a big game, not only first game back home after Thanksgiving, but where these guys are in the standings. I mean they're right behind us and this is a chance for a little separation early and to start this homestand off right."
Video: WPG@MIN: Talbot makes save on Scheifele
Alex Goligoski scored just 52 seconds into the game - the earliest goal of the season for Minnesota - as the Wild built a 2-0 lead after one period when Mats Zuccarello scored his first of two.
But Minnesota didn't stop there, piling up 21(!) shots on goal and scoring three times in the middle period, blowing the game wide open.
Video: WPG@MIN: Zuccarello rips fires puck home off post
"I think the way we're up two goals and really just the way we were able to extend it and keep that momentum going and not give them anything, not let them back in the game whatsoever," said Wild forward Ryan Hartman. "It was great to see and it's something that hopefully we can look at and look back to this when we do get in these situations know that it's there."
Video: WPG@MIN: Hartman nets Kaprizov rebound from down low
Hartman and Zuccarello scored twice in the span of 45 seconds in the opening three minutes of the second period, driving Jets goaltender and U.S. Olympic hopeful Connor Hellebuyck from the game. Jon Merrill added a goal near the game's mid-point as Minnesota opened up a five-goal cushion at the second intermission.
Video: WPG@MIN: Merrill scores in 2nd period
"We've been talking about that too, to play with a lead and not to sit back and give them much room to make plays," said Wild defenseman Jonas Brodin. "I think today, we just kept pushing and kept playing offensively and that's how you win those games, you play hard and keep pushing forward. You can't just sit back and I think we did that today."
Minnesota's depth continues to shine. A few games after scoring seven goals against the Dallas Stars, a game where no Wild player scored more than once ... it scored seven again on Friday. Zuccarello was the only player with multiple points.
Video: WPG@MIN: Dumba scores in 3rd period
"We continue to talk about our depth and it's not one or two guys scoring," said Wild coach Dean Evason. "Lots has been made of guys that don't score on our team but not a lot's made of our depth scoring ... so that's a very good thing."
2. Four more for Kirill
Kirill Kaprizov spent his Thanksgiving Thursday at Jared Spurgeon's house, eating "a ton of food," and enjoying the first traditional American Thanksgiving of his life.
"It was great, but I ate a ton, a ton of food, and I felt extremely heavy today on the ice," Kaprizov said through an interpreter. "But it worked out."
We should all be so productive the day after Thanksgiving.
Kaprizov tallied four points on Friday, scoring a goal and assisting on three others, tying his career best for points in a game and scoring four points for the second time in as many home games.
Kaprizov, who was also a plus-4 and had six shots on goal in the game, has points in four of his past five games and multiple points in three of those games.
Video: WPG@MIN: Kaprizov finishes Fiala one-timer for goal
He's also scored a goal in three of his past five, but has seen a large uptick in his assists in his second year. After dishing out 24 helpers in 55 games as a rookie last season, Kaprizov is already up to 16 assists in 20 games.
For a guy who is supposedly off to a "slow start," Kaprizov certainly isn't producing at a sub-par level on the scoresheet.
Perhaps it is the downturn in goal-scoring that has driven the narrative? Even so, six goals through 20 games puts him about on pace to equal his total of 27 goals from last season while his 16 assists has him on pace to shatter both his assist and points numbers from his first year.
"That's the way the game's going right now. It's been kind of in the moment the opportunities have been there to make assists," Kaprizov said. "I try not to worry about it too much. I try not to focus on that. The same thing could happen with goals. They'll start coming in numbers. I'm not worried about it."
With 22 points through 20 games, Kaprizov is also on pace to approach 90 points, assuming he stays healthy. That's ... not bad. His 11 points over the past five games are the most in the NHL over that span.
"I think it's what other teams are doing. They're all going to him and he's such a good player. He can't get free because there's not only one, two people coming," Evason said. "He understands and recognizes the opening might not be there for him but maybe that's why he's getting other people those opportunities because they're all concentrated on him."
More importantly, the Wild is winning hockey games. Minnesota now sits five points clear of Winnipeg in the Central Division standings.
3. No comeback required
The Wild has been craving a game like this for sometime now. Minnesota is in a strong position in the standings at the Thanksgiving holiday, often a harbinger of what the standings will look like come the end of the regular season.
But it has rarely been easy.
Too often, it has been late-game rallies (like the first meeting between these clubs in the home opener) or a katy-bar-the-door effort where Minnesota has been in hold-on-for-dear-life mode, like it was Wednesday night in an eventual shootout win over the New Jersey Devils.
"You just gotta continue doing it over and over and over again," Evason said. "We were certainly ready to go, and we played correctly for the entire game. We didn't turn the puck over, I mean, rare. Maybe a couple. We'll watch but we started right and it didn't get away from us like it has in the past. We were very happy with that."
On the front end of a five-game homestand, and coming off a weird stretch of days where practices and morning skates have been at a premium, Friday's game was just what the doctor ordered.
"After the first period the other night I think we started to do a little bit too much. Weren't supporting the puck as much. Trying to make a little bit too many cute plays," Talbot said. "Tonight in the second period we simplified things and we just continued to have success. That's when we're at our best.
The Wild got more apparent good news after the game when it was revealed that Zuccarello, who was slashed needlessly in the hand by Winnipeg's Nathan Beaulieu late in the second period and did not return, is not seriously injured.
"He could have came back and played in this game. But not what's the point. It's just precautionary," Evason said. "It's very frustrating because the guy just takes a baseball swing and hits him in the hand."
Evason said he expects Zuccarello to be in the lineup Sunday against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Loose pucks
- Nick Bjugstad skated in his 500th NHL game
- Five Wild defensemen registered a point in the game, and Minnesota now leads the NHL in scoring by defensemen with 59 points
- Minnesota has scored 14 goals over its past two games at Xcel Energy Center, setting a new team record for goals scored in consecutive home games
- Zuccarello has nine points in his past nine games
- Hartman's tally was his team-leading 11th of the year
- Kulikov has an assist in three consecutive games
- Talbot finished with 30 saves
- Jets forward Paul Stastny was the only Winnipeg player who wasn't a minus
- Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck allowed four goals on 14 shots and was lifted from the game at the 2:49 mark of the second period
- Winnipeg netminder played the remainder of the game and stopped 21 of 24 shots in relief
Dan's three stars
1. Kirill Kaprizov
2. Ryan Hartman
3. Cam Talbot
Highlights
Video: Kaprizov earns four points, Wild cruise by Jets, 7-1
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