Postgame Hat Trick: Panthers 4, Wild 2

Wild.com's Dan Myers gives three takeaways from the Wild's 4-2 loss against the Florida Panthers at BB&T Center in Sunrise, Florida on Friday night:

1. Minnesota couldn't hang on to a one-goal lead after 40 minutes.
"We made a couple mistakes, and they put it in," said frustrated Wild coach Bruce Boudreau. "Then you're fighting from behind, chasing the game and they're digging in in their building. It's a blown game."
Goals by Ryan Suter and Daniel Winnik gave the Wild a 2-1 lead after two periods and Minnesota looked primed to earn at least a split on its four-game road trip.
But Jonathan Huberdeau had other ideas, as the Panthers forward scored his first of two third-period markers, sandwiched around a goal by Connor Brickley as Florida rallied for three goals in the final frame.

"It's very frustrating. It's not the first time this has happened to us," Winnik said. "It seems like a recurring theme, and unfortunately that's not what playoff teams do. We have to buckle down in the third period when we go in with the lead, and it has to be one point or two points every single time.
"I think we just play passive. I think we just let them bring the game to us and we don't attack the same way we do in the first two periods. I think our forechecks aren't as aggressive, our breakouts aren't as clean, we'll high-flick pucks and won't hunt them down. It just lets them gain more speed and keep coming at us."
Huberdeau's first of the night came exactly two minutes into the period before Brickley gave Florida its first lead of the game 9:14 later. Huberdeau's second was an empty-net tally with five seconds remaining.

"We talked about finishing off, and they got one early and still it's 2-2, we've got a great chance," said Wild goaltender Alex Stalock. "Once again, the puck was bouncing there on the third one and bouncing, bouncing, bouncing and it's in the back of the net."
2. After killing a pair of early penalties, the Wild used the power play to grab the lead.
Penalties by Marcus Foligno and Charlie Coyle in the first 3:36 of the game were not ideal, but the Wild came away unscathed, allowing four shots on goal.
"I thought that was a really good job by the PK. ... It's not easy to start the game with your first shift on the penalty kill. You've got to be mentally alert to start, and I thought we did a great job," Winnik said. "They got some good looks. Credit Al on that one save on [Panthers defenseman Aaron] Ekblad through the seam. And I thought also it was a great response from our power play."
Less than two minutes after killing Coyle's hooking minor, Minnesota gained its first power play and took advantage when Ryan Suter's blast from the point hit traffic in front of Panthers goaltender James Reimer and went into the net.
Suter, who was playing catch at the point with defensive partner Matt Dumba, wired a spicy little one-timer off a sliding Panthers defenseman -- a deflection that fooled Reimer from the get-go.

For Suter, it was his fifth goal of the season and and his seventh point (one goal, six assists) in his past seven games.
Dumba earned the primary assist, extending his point streak to four games. He has three goals and two assists during that stretch.
3. Winnik became the latest Wild forward to break a goal-scoring skid.
Just past the midway point and with the game knotted at 1, a forechecking Winnik forced a turnover along the right-wing wall at center. He gained control of the puck and got around defenseman Alexander Petrovic, driving to Reimer at the front of the cage.
Petrovic made life difficult for Winnik, who didn't get all of his first try, but stabbed the rebound through Reimer for his third goal and 10th point of the season.

It was Winnik's first goal since Oct. 28 against the Pittsburgh Penguins (a dry spell of 25 games), the same night Mikko Koivu's last goal came before he broke through Tuesday night in Ottawa.
"I think I've been playing some good hockey as of late," Winnik said. "Sometimes the goals don't come. It was nice to finally get that streak busted for myself."

Loose pucks

• Wild forward Matt Cullen played in his 1,400th NHL game, becoming the 38th skater in NHL history and the fourth active player to reach the milestone. He's also the fourth American to reach 1,400 games and the second Minnesotan (Phil Housley, 1495).
• Wild forward Nino Niederreiter left the game in the first period with a lower-body injury and did not return. Boudreau did not have an update on his status afterward.
• Panthers forward Aleksander Barkov had two assists.
• Matt Dumba and Mikael Granlund each assisted on Suter's first-period goal.
• Stalock finished with 30 saves on 33 shots.
• Reimer stopped 31 shots.
• Attendance: 13,259

He said it

"It's very frustrating. Last 10 minutes of a game, how many times have I sat here and talked about us being tied in the last 10 minutes of a game and then not getting anything out of it on the road?" -- Wild coach Bruce Boudreau

They said it

"We have no quit in our game. It's a character win, like we've said so many times. It's not giving up against a team that has won so many games and has shut teams down in the third period with a lead." -- Panthers forward Vincent Trocheck

Dan's three stars

* Jonathan Huberdeau
\\ Connor Brickley
\\* Daniel Winnik