Postgame Hat Trick: Wild 3, Capitals 2 (SO)

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

1. Well, that's one way to score a goal
Desperately in need of some offense, the Wild turned to ... Carl Hagelin for an injection of life?
That's right, it was the Capitals forward who actually broke the offensive seal for Minnesota on this night, scoring into his own net from 180 feet away and Caps goaltender Zach Fucale on the bench for an extra attacker on a delayed penalty on the Wild.
It's a goal you only see a couple of times per season: empty cage on the other end and the club on offense slides a puck the length of the ice into its own net.
Marcus Foligno was credited with the Wild goal after he deflected a pass to Hagelin a second earlier, but the play wasn't whistled down because officials deemed Foligno's deflection did not reach the level of "possession."

That ruling benefitted the Wild, who slogged through the second period allowing a pair of goals against in the first six minutes of the frame, then continued on a repeated march to the penalty box.
"I thought we worked our butts off," Foligno said. "I thought the penalty kill gave us some momentum and it was nice to get, we call it the hockey gods rewarding us a little bit on those goals."
Hagelin's own goal provided the Wild with some new life and brought Minnesota within one headed to the third period, a deficit it took until the final minute of regulation to erase ... but erase it did, on Mats Zuccarello's shot from the right-wing halfwall that went through a screen and perhaps off a Capitals player in front of Fucale.

The goal was Minnesota's 11th 6-on-5 goal this season, a total which ranks first in the NHL and three more than any other team in the league. Eight teams have yet to score a single 6-on-5 goal while six others have just one.
The NHL leader in 6-on-5 goals in 2018-19, the last time a full 82-game regular season was contested, was the Detroit Red Wings, who scored ... 11 times that year.

"[Assistant coach Darby Hendrickson] said, 'are we calling [a timeout?]'. I said, 'no we're not calling a timeout yet. The guys know what we're doing.' Good gosh we've pulled the goalie enough to know what our setup is," Evason said with a grin. "Our players knew exactly what we were doing so it's like we'll save it which worked out clearly because we got a rest there in the second one."
You have to feel for the youngster Fucale, playing in his third NHL game and making his second career start. No goaltender in history had ever posted consecutive shutouts in his first two career starts in the league, and even though the goal against technically doesn't "count" as a goal against, the bid for shutout history was gone.
As it turned out, he'd come up just a tad short in his bid for a second career victory as well.
On the rare own goal ... Evason has seen a lot of hockey in his day. But that's a new one. Of course he's seen highlights, but Saturday night's unique scoring sequence was one he had never seen with his own eyes before.
"[Wild GM] Billy [Guerin] said he has one like that," Evason said. "But I don't think I've ever seen one live for sure."
2. Next man up
Or next nine, to be exact.
Minnesota went to battle on Saturday night down a few regulars in the lineup. Among those not in the lineup were Kirill Kaprizov (upper body), Jared Spurgeon (lower body), Joel Eriksson Ek (upper body), Cam Talbot (lower body), Jonas Brodin (upper body), Nick Bjugstad (upper body), Alex Goligoski (COVID-19 protocol), Jordan Greenway (COVID-19 protocol) and Brandon Duhaime (COVID-19 protocol).
For those keeping track at home, that the team's leading scorer, its captain, its top center, three of its top four defensemen, two middle-six forwards and another veteran forward who is one of its most versatile players.

"The lineup is the lineup. You can't make excuses. Everyone is buying in and it was nice to get rewarded," Foligno said. "Honestly, it's great to see our depth. That's something that's really nice is that we've got these young guys that are talented. You praise Boldy and Marco for what they've done. They've been playing great for us. Such smart players at a young age. It's great for our team and for the fans here to have guys like that coming up the pipeline. Those are guys that want to stay here."
Still, the Wild played a gritty first period that saw it go to intermission 0-0 and was still within one shot of tying the game into the third period, against one of the NHL's top teams. That persistence paid off with what has become a Wild trademark, scoring a late tying goal, before earning a hard-fought bonus point in the shootout.

"I think everyone in there did a hell of a job. Second period, we were PK-ing the whole time and we did a great job, people were blocking shots and doing what they had to do," Zuccarello said. "I think whoever comes in to play steps up and does the job, and tonight was a good example of that."
Minnesota will now have six days until its next scheduled game, right here against the Anaheim Ducks, and the hope is that the Wild will have plenty of reinforcements back in time for that one.

"I don't know if you deserve [getting a break on the own goal], but we work hard enough to make that break, I think," Evason said. "I think our group battled and we've gone through some adversity, but we've come through here and hopefully we get some bodies back."
3. Kaapo keeps control
Down nine regulars, it's imperative in situations like Saturday's that you get a top-notch effort from the man in the crease. And in the case of Kaapo Kahkonen, the Wild got just that.
Kahkonen finished with 29 saves on 31 shots, but once again displayed relatively little in the way of nerves or shakiness. He was calm and steady, making a number of grade-A stops but also controlling his rebounds and offering up little in the way of freebies.
Well, for 59 minutes and 50 seconds anyway. More on that in a bit.

But in a bottom line business, where winning is all that matters, the Wild won on Saturday night because its goalie was the best player on the ice and he kept them within striking distance when things could have gone completely sideways during the second period.
"Kaapo's been really good for us. He's the game-winner today, and the last game he was right there," Zuccarello said. "I think even if it's Cam, Kaapo, whoever, I think the boys trust them. I think we got two really good goalies. We're lucky."
The shootout win was the first of Kahkonen's NHL career in his third shootout appearance. He was steady and solid there too, holding his ground against Evgeny Kuznetsov in the first round before stopping Daniel Sprong in the second.
That allowed Fiala and Freddy Gaudreau to score in the skills competition to end the night in Minnesota's favor.

Over his past nine games (eight starts), Kahkonen is 6-1-1 with a 2.19 goals-against average and a .926 save percentage.
"Kaapo was fantastic," Evason said.
About the only hiccup came moments after Zuccarello's equalizer. With the game tied at 2-2, a loose puck leaked slowly into the Wild end of the ice. Kahkonen's nature is to play the puck, so he left the confines of his blue paint and went to go meet the puck at the defensive blue line in front of him.
The only problem was, the Capitals sensed the now vacated cage and weren't far away.
Kahkonen got to it first, but went backhand and turned the puck over in the neutral zone with one of the greatest goal scorers in NHL history circling. Kahkonen quickly retreated to the crease, but needed to make a left pad save at the top of the left faceoff circle in order to preserve overtime.

With hindsight, it was an absolutely hilarious moment - and a sight to behold - but in the moment, it caused plenty of indigestion, especially amongst the sellout crowd of 19,000-plus in the stands.
"He was unbelievable. He's been playing great. He's just so chill back there. Until the 9 seconds where he made us all have a heart attack there," Foligno said with a relieved smile on his face. "I don't know why he goes backhand and not forehead. I thought he was going to do the Patty Roy Gretzky in New York there for a second.
"He's confident and we're confident with him back there. He's so poised. He's such a great teammate. Huge stops. That one backdoor on the penalty kill was huge. Obviously in the shootout he was perfect. He's been playing great for us. Again, injury to a guy like Talbot, he comes in and everyone has confidence in him."

Loose pucks

• Minnesota is 7-0-1 in its past eight games at Xcel Energy Center
• The win was Minnesota's first over Washington in St. Paul since Jan. 4, 2014
• Ryan Hartman finished the night with 27:22 in ice time, tied for third-most by an NHL forward this season
• Hartman's TOI total is also sixth-highest by a forward in Wild history
• Both Zuccarello and Fiala extended their point streaks to four games on the tying goal
• Foligno's goal was the 100th of his NHL career and his 14th of the season, a new career high
• Kuznetsov and Connor McMichael scored goals for the Capitals
• Alex Ovechkin had one assist, snapping a two-game point drought
• Fucale was credited with 21 saves on 22 shots faced

Dan's three stars

1. Kaapo Kahkonen
   2. Mats Zuccarello
   3. Zach Fucale

Highlights