Postgame Hat Trick: Wild 3, Avalanche 2

Wild.com's Dan Myers gives three takeaways from the Wild's 3-2 win against the Colorado Avalanche at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul on Saturday night:

1. The Wild ran its winning streak to five games.
In an opening night rematch that saw Colorado score a pair of late empty-netters to break open a 2-1 game, it was the Wild who clung to a 2-1 lead late in this one, thanks to a third-period goal by Eric Staal.
You could feel it coming.
Moments earlier, Matt Dumba absolutely blasted Colorado's Alexander Kerfoot in what might have been the most devastating hit of his career. Jason Zucker crunched Marko Dano seconds later, a pair of hits that brought the building alive.

Colorado's Nikita Zadorov responded by taking a high-sticking penalty which put Minnesota on the power play, where it took the Wild 1:12 to capitalize.
Charlie Coyle and Mikael Granlund passed up golden opportunities on the man advantage but Staal did not, slamming a one-timer through Semyon Varloamov for his third goal of the campaign.

With Colorado on a power play and its net empty, Jonas Brodin fires one in from Woodbury for a 3-1 lead. It ended up being important; Gabriel Landeskog brought the Avs back within one goal with 41 seconds remaining.
2. Granlund's second-period goal tied the game at 1 and extended his lengthy point streak.
Granlund now has tallied at least one point in seven consecutive games, a stretch that started when he had one goal and one assist Oct. 13 against the Carolina Hurricanes.
Since then, Granlund has goals against Arizona, Tampa Bay, Los Angeles and Colorado.

During his streak, Granlund has accumulated five goals and four assists, putting behind him a slow start that saw him go scoreless in each of the Wild's first three games. His five goals lead the team and his nine points is tied for second behind Zach Parise (11) and equal to Ryan Suter.
3. The Wild now hits the road for the next 2 1/2 weeks.
It's not a straight road trip for Minnesota; the club will fly home twice between stints on the road in Western Canada, in St. Louis, in California and in St. Louis again, but the club won't play on Xcel Energy Center ice again until Nov. 13 when the defending Stanley Cup champion Washington Capitals come to St. Paul.
In all, the Wild will go 17 days between home games, its longest stretch of the season.
Minnesota's marathon stretch begins Monday when it plays in Vancouver against the Canucks, and continues the next night in Edmonton versus the Oilers. After two days at home, the Wild flies to St. Louis for a game against the Blues next Saturday.
Following another day off at home, Minnesota heads west for games in California against San Jose (Nov. 6), Los Angeles (Nov. 8) and Anaheim (Nov. 9) and one more date in St. Louis (Nov. 11).