Postgame Hat Trick: Wild 3, Avalanche 1

Wild.com's Dan Myers gives three takeaways from the Wild's 3-1 win against the Colorado Avalanche at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul on Monday night:

1. Picking up where HE left off.
Kirill Kaprizov had an outstanding rookie campaign on his way to the Calder Memorial Trophy last season, leading the Wild in goals and points in 55 games.
In his exhibition debut on Monday night, he didn't miss a beat.
Kaprizov had the primary assist on the game's first goal 14 seconds into the second period, when an attempted give-and-go with Joel Eriksson Ek just missed after Ek was interfered with. It worked out, however, as the puck slid right onto the tape of Jared Spurgeon, who fired past Darcy Kuemper to get the offense going.

Then in the final minute of the second, Kaprizov himself lit the lamp, again working the give-and-go angle. This time Kap started it, passing to Mats Zuccarello then heading right to the back door and finishing an easy tap-in to make it 2-zip heading to the third.
2. Picking up where THEY left off.
That duo of Kaprizov and Zuccarello found incredible chemistry last season and that roll continued.
After assisting on Kaprizov's goal, Zuccarello also tallied a helper on Jonas Brodin's tally early in the third that made it a 3-0 hockey game.
Zuccarello didn't assist on Spurgeon's goal in the second, but only because they only give out two assists on goals in the NHL. If they awarded three, that would have belonged to Mats as well.

All this after the veteran forward tallied three assists on Thursday night in Denver ... and that was without Kaprizov in the lineup.
So, if you're keeping track, Zuccarello now has five helpers in six periods of exhibition hockey. Yeah, he's in midseason form.
3. Kaapo goes the distance.
For the first time in the exhibition season, a Wild goaltender was provided the opportunity to play all 60 minutes.
After splitting time with Andrew Hammond in his first preseason action in St. Louis, Kahkonen manned the crease for the entirety of the contest on Monday and was solid.
Perhaps his biggest save of the night came with one minute left in the second period, when he absolutely stoned Oskar Olausson with the left pad. The puck came free to the Wild, who went right down to the other end and scored on Kaprizov's goal seconds later.
Sure it was a preseason game and the final result isn't too important in the grand scheme. But that was a major turning point, flipping what looked like a sure 1-1 game into a 2-0 Wild lead headed to the final 20.
Kahkonen also made a nice right pad save on Jean-Luc Foudy early in the third period with Foudy on a partial breakaway.