1. Well, that was ... something.
If you went to bed at the second intermission with the Wild leading 4-2, you missed a heck of a third period.
Where to begin.
Arizona scored twice in the first 3:22 of the period to tie the game at 4-4.
Minnesota followed with a pair of goals in the next 95 seconds to make it 6-4.
Arizona scored again 26 seconds after that to make it 6-5.
That's five goals in the span of 5 minutes, 23 seconds.
Finally some sanity (?) was restored. Nobody scored again for almost six whole minutes, as Ryan Suter kicked the extra point and put the Wild ahead 7-5.
Luke Kunin scored the game's final goal on an open net with nine seconds remaining to make it 8-5.
2. Minnesota salvaged the final game of a three-game road trip.
Following losses in Chicago and Las Vegas to open the trip, the Wild played its best game of the week against the Pacific Division-leading Coyotes.
Arizona scored the only goal of the first period when newcomer Taylor Hall found Phil Kessel with under four minutes remaining until intermission.
But the Wild quickly turned momentum to start the second. Ryan Donato scored off the rush two minutes in. Just 85 seconds later, Marcus Foligno banged home a quick shot from in tight after a brilliant pass by Carson Soucy, and all of the sudden, the Wild had the lead.
Arizona tied the game on a power-play goal by Jakob Chychrun midway through the period. But again, just 85 seconds elapsed before the Wild answered yet again, this time on a tally by Ryan Hartman on a breakaway.
Minnesota pushed its lead to two goals for the first time when Eric Staal finished off a nifty feed by Mats Zuccarello late in the second, giving the Wild a 4-2 lead headed to the third period.
Then, all hell broke loose.
3. Devan Dubnyk made his return to the lineup, playing for the first time in exactly one month.
He gave up five goals, sure, but Dubnyk was spectacular early in the game, stopping 16 of 17 shots in the opening frame and keeping the Wild within striking distance as it found its offensive legs in the second and third periods.
Dubnyk also made a couple of critical saves during the crazy third-period madness to keep the Wild ahead.
The goals-against average and the save percentage won't look good in this one, but the bottom line is, Dubnyk made the saves he absolutely had to and the Wild won the game.
Dubnyk finished with 35 saves overall and has earned the Wild at least one point in five of his past six starts dating back to Nov. 9 (4-1-1).
