Postgame Hat Trick: Wild 5, Coyotes 2

Wild.com's Dan Myers gives three takeaways from the Wild's 5-2 win against the Arizona Coyotes at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul on Tuesday night:

1. A rude awakening
The first few minutes of Tuesday's game had the makings of trouble.
After consecutive games against playoff-caliber - and in the case of the Tampa Bay Lightning, championship caliber - the Wild was playing against a team in the Arizona Coyotes that is very clearly in rebuild mode.
The Central Division's newest team spent a majority of the last offseason trading away some of its best talent in a rebuild that will be expedited next summer, when the Coyotes have eight picks in the first two rounds of the NHL Draft, including three first rounders.
Despite that, the Coyotes have played better of late, including in one-goal games, posting a 4-2-1 record in one-goal games since Minnesota upended Arizona 5-2 earlier this month in the desert.
The first handful of minutes, the Coyotes looked like the better club, and Clayton Keller capitalized, scoring his sixth of the season 5:58 into the game.

"We didn't have a good start. No question. Why? I don't know," said Wild coach Dean Evason. "Maybe because of what they did. But maybe some of it was us."
Keller's goal was the wake-up call the Wild needed.
Joel Eriksson Ek evened the game back up less than two minutes later before the Wild scored a trio of goals in the second period to open up a 4-1 lead through 40 minutes.

"We liked that the group adjusted after the first period and honestly without us in the room," Evason said. "That was nice to see them respond how they did in the second period was real, real good."
Indeed it was the Wild's leadership group that did most of the talking after the first 20 minutes which helped set the tone for the rest of the game.

"We acknowledged it in the intermission. We knew it wasn't our style of play and we were definitely playing down to the opposition and it wasn't good," said Wild alternate captain Marcus Foligno. "The only good thing about that is our team, we acknowledge stuff like that and just speak about it and know it's not good. We definitely played a better game in the second and third."
Included in that barrage of offense in the middle period was Jonas Brodin's goal with three seconds left in the second, a goal that would have huge ramifications after Arizona narrowed the deficit early in the final period.
"I think the goal in the second period at the end there is huge because it gives you that cushion going into the third," said Wild goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen, who finished with 29 saves and kept the Wild afloat through an uneven start. "Just a timely goal, I guess you could say the same thing if you get a timely block or save or whatever. It was good for us that we got that goal at the right moment in the game and it puts us in a position to battle for a win."
It wasn't pretty at times, but a dub is a dub, and now the Wild has won four consecutive games, and collected at least a point in five-straight contests. The victory also assured Minnesota of a winning homestand with games against a pair of Eastern Conference foes left on the docket before a four-game road trip west that begins next Tuesday in Edmonton.
2. The Big Rig breaks through
Jordan Greenway has put together a stretch of games recently to really be proud of. Since returning from a lower-body injury on Nov. 10, Greenway has been one of the club's most impactful players on a night in, night out basis, but that hasn't translated to the scoresheet until Tuesday night in the second period, when Greenway scored his first goal of the season.
While Greenway looked almost stunned, the reaction of his teammates - specifically Foligno - was outstanding.

"I was a little bit just confused who tipped it really, and then it hit me that it was his first one, so we celebrated like it was an overtime goal," Foligno said. "Just [to] get the monkey off his back. He's been playing really well the past couple of games and just deserved a couple tonight and definitely a couple in the past games.
"He's so big for our team when he's going, you can't stop a guy like that. It adds another element to our game."
Greenway also assisted on Eriksson Ek's first period goal and on Foligno's third-period tally, giving him three points on the night. That equalled his season total coming into the game and was the first three-point night of his NHL career.

"We think it's probably been a month he's played like that. He's gotten better and better and got rewarded with a goal and two assists," Evason said. "It's great you get rewarded but I don't think it mattered now. Maybe it had in the past but he didn't care. Honestly talking to him he was never saying he has no points or whatever. Just all business. Went about his business.
"But having said that, we talked about this morning [that] it's fun to score goals. So I'm sure it was fun for him to score a goal and get rewarded for being in front of the net, doing the gritty work, physical, playing like he's playing. It's real good."
Greenway said the goose egg in the goals column wasn't really affecting him mentally.

"I'm pretty patient when it comes to the production that's on the score sheet, so mentally, I don't know if it was getting to me as much as you'd think," Greenway said. "I really focus on trying to do the right things, and whether it's Game 20 or Game 1, I believe it will come."
Greenway, Ek and Foligno combined for three goals and two assists on Thursday and each guy on the line was a plus-3.
That line as a whole was vintage Greenway-Eriksson Ek-Foligno, dominating in all three zones all night long. With Kirill Kaprizov and Ryan Hartman creating together on one line and with one of the top fourth lines in the NHL, if the Wild can get the big boys ... look out.

"I think the depth is the best. We're not teaching, we're not coaching any differently. I just think that we've got some depth scoring that everybody's producing," Evason said. "They're all, for the most part, playing the right way and the same way and if we do that, we feel that we'll be able to score goals. Fortunately, we have and fortunately everybody has.
"It's not one line. It's not two guys. It's not one defenseman. Everybody's involved in the offense. That's what we like, and it's more fun to play that way."
3. There goes the Lady Byng
Only kidding of course, but Brodin did something he rarely does late in the second period: he committed a penalty.
Brodin began the night with 21 games under his belt this season, a year where he was four seconds away from leading the team in average time on ice per game ... having yet to commit a single minor penalty.
Entering the contest, he was the only Wild regular to have a grand total of zero PIMs on the season.

With Brodin's sudden deluge of penalty minutes, it may be a real race between Brodin and teammate Jared Spurgeon as to who may be the most gentlemanly player on the club. Spurgeon missed his fifth game because of a lower-body injury on Tuesday, but the two defensemen are now tied with total minor penalties taken so far this season ... with one apiece.

Brodin more than made up for his "error in judgement," exiting the penalty box and scoring his third goal of the season less than two minutes later.
Coincidence? Perhaps. Or maybe Brodin needs to goon it up a little more to spark some added offense (note: sarcasm).

Loose pucks

• Wild forward Freddy Gaudreau missed the game and was placed on the COVID-19 protocol list
• Wild defenseman Calen Addison played his third game of the season, but skated in Gaudreau's place at forward
• Foligno has a point in three consecutive games and has five points over his past six outings
• Hartman had two assists in the game and now has a four-game point streak. He has 14 points over his past 13 games overall (8-6=14)
• Kaprizov had a goal and an assist and now has 14 points over his past seven games. He leads the NHL in scoring since Nov. 18
• Minnesota finished the month of November on a high note, scoring four goals for the 11th time in its past 14 games. It leads the NHL in goals since Nov. 2
• Scott Wedgewood stopped 32 of 37 shots for Arizona
• Anton Stralman also scored for Arizona

Dan's three stars

1. Jordan Greenway
   2. Jonas Brodin
   3. Kaapo Kahkonen

Highlights