Postgame Hat Trick: Wild 3, Blackhawks 0

Wild.com's Dan Myers gives three takeaways from the Wild's 3-0 win against the Chicago Blackhawks at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul on Saturday night:

1. If there's a way to guarantee momentum in a hockey game, the Wild accomplished it.
Goal within the first two minutes of a period? Check.
Killing off an extended 5-on-3 power play? Check.
Scoring on the power play? Another check.
And all of that happened within the first seven minutes of regulation.
After a sleepy start against Arizona on Thursday, Minnesota resumed its hot-commencements-at-home trend when Charlie Coyle proved the bank is indeed open on Saturday nights, gathering a puck off the back of the net and deflecting it in off Blackhawks goaltender Jeff Glass 1:58 into the contest.

Less than a minute later, Lance Bouma blasted Nate Prosser behind the Wild net, something Marcus Foligno was not happy about. The big winger took umbrage a few seconds later, as he and Bouma dropped the mitts.
Problem was, Foligno got an extra two for roughing while Mike Reilly also got two for cross checking. That meant two full minutes of 5-on-3 man advantage time for the visitors.
Enter goaltender Devan Dubnyk, who made five saves on the power play to help keep the goose-egg on the board. Dubnyk kept the Blackhawks in check, finishing with 44 saves for his fourth shutout of the season and 28th of his NHL career. Nineteen of those have come in the three years he's spent in a Wild uniform.
Less than a minute after the penalties were killed, the Wild got a power play chance of its own.
Next up on stage: Matt Dumba and Mikko Koivu. The former sent a howitzer of a shot toward Glass that Koivu deflected past the goaltender 37 seconds into power play, giving the Wild a 2-0 lead -- much to the delight of the 19,227 fans in attendance, an Xcel Energy Center season high.
Minnesota was outshot 17-5 in the period, but it never really felt like the Blackhawks tilted the ice, mostly because of the crooked number on the scoreboard for the Wild.

2. It's safe to say Charlie Coyle is heating up.
The winger turned centerman turned winger scored twice on Saturday and now has four goals in his past six games.
It's been a tough year for Coyle, who sustained a broken leg in the first meeting between these teams back in October. After returning, it took awhile for Coyle to get comfortable physically, then he bounced around the lineup a bit.
But playing on the right side of Matt Cullen and Zach Parise the past couple games, Coyle looks at home.

While the offense has come in spurts this season, Coyle now has eight goals and 23 points in 39 games. His goal in the second period, a pretty short-side snipe by Glass and inside the left post, was the 200th point of his NHL career.
With the scoring chances are starting to come more often for Parise as well, the Wild has to hope it's found something. Now fully healthy up front, the duo -- with either Cullen or Joel Eriksson Ek between them -- has the potential to be a quality third line.
3. The victory secured the five-game season series for Minnesota, running its record to 11-4-1 in its past 16 games against its Windy City rival.
More importantly, the Wild moved 10 points clear of the Blackhawks in the Central Division standings.
Chicago has been without goaltender Corey Crawford for a bulk of the season, and with him, the Blackhawks are a much different team. Crawford could return to action in the next week or two, but will it be too little, too late for Chicago? In the era of the three-point game, a 10-point deficit in a span of 27 games is quite the mountain to climb.
Still, don't expect the Blackhawks to go quietly. Chicago has reached the postseason nine consecutive seasons, winning three Stanley Cups during that span.

Minnesota, meanwhile, gained an important two points. Colorado, which began the day two points behind the Wild in the Central and in the wild card standings, lost at Carolina. Los Angeles, another potential wild card foe, lost in Tampa.
And the Wild, which has games in hand on the two teams directly in front of them in the Central, won as each of St. Louis and Dallas sat idle.

Related:
- Wild expects desperate showing from Chicago - Watch: Coyle's second of the night - Watch: Dubnyk's big 5-on-3 stop