Postgame Hat Trick: Wild 5, Predators 4 (OT)

Wild.com's Dan Myers gives three takeaways from the Wild's 5-4 overtime win against the Nashville Predators at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville on Sunday night:

1. Stay Kuli
For the second time this season, Dmitry Kulikov scored a beauty of a goal on a breakaway ... which really is something, because Kulikov, of course, is a defenseman.
This time, the stakes were a little bit bigger.
While his first breakaway at Edmonton back in December essentially put that game away, his bar-Mexi, breakaway tally on Sunday night delivered the Wild a gigantic extra point in the standings as it aims to secure home-ice advantage in a First Round playoff series against the St. Louis Blues when that series commences next week.

"Don't get many of them," Kulikov said with a smile still plastered on his face. "That's why I gotta make sure [I score] when I get them."
Kulikov's goal came in the final moments of a back-and-forth hockey game and came via an effort play by Joel Eriksson Ek, who outmuscled Colton Sissons for a loose puck near the Wild's offensive blueline with only a few seconds left in OT. Eriksson Ek won control of the puck and flipped it towards a streaking Kulikov, who was in all alone on Predators goaltender David Rittich.
With only two seconds left, Kulikov flipped the puck off the crossbar and in for his seventh goal of the season. As Kulikov was mobbed by his teammates, just 1.3 seconds was left on the scoreboard.

"I looked up after I scored and it was a second left. I thought I had a little more time," Kulikov said.
Turns out, he had all the time he needed. For Kulikov, it was his third career overtime goal, but first since March 20, 2013.
"It's awesome. I think we've shown all year, anyone can score, everybody can help any way they are asked to," Eriksson Ek said. "It's good for the team to have that depth."

Minnesota has now secured a point in 10 consecutive games, the third time this season the Wild has put together a 10-game point streak. It is the eighth team in NHL history to post three or more 10-game point streaks in a season and the first since Colorado did it in 2000-01.
And perhaps most impressively, the Wild won on Sunday despite the fact it was without Mats Zuccarello, Marcus Foligno, Jordan Greenway, Matt Dumba and for most of the game, Jared Spurgeon, who left with an upper-body injury with eight minutes left in the first period.
"We were missing some good players, but we have done it all season long," said Wild forward Kevin Fiala. "If somebody's out, somebody steps in, and no matter who it is kind of, just doing a good job. I strongly believe how the team it's like a family, like a great family that everybody feels comfortable."
Spurgeon's injury could cost him a couple of games this week, but Wild coach Dean Evason did have some positive news on that front. When asked if he thinks he'll be ready for the Blues?
"I'd love to say we kept him out but we didn't. He was hurt. We'll obviously evaluate but there was no chance he was going back in that game," Evason said. "Expect him in the playoffs."
2. You serious, Kevin?
Nobody in the National Hockey League is hotter than Fiala, who entered play on Sunday night riding a nine-game point streak and a four-game multi-point streak.
Make it five. And 10.

After Nashville rallied from a pair of deficits to take a 3-2 lead on two power-play goals midway through the game, Fiala went to work, feeding Eriksson Ek with a beauty of a pass and redirection to capitalize on a power play and tie the game at 3-3 with just 93 seconds left in the second period.
But Fiala wasn't done yet, not by a long shot.
Just 70 seconds later, Fiala danced around Mikael Granlund into the slot then beat Rittich with a nasty backhander for his 33rd goal of the season and second point of the night, re-establishing the Minnesota advantage heading into the final frame.

"I kinda saw they were pretty tired. So I kind of wanted to do something, create something and I saw there was a hole, I can go to the backhand and just try to go for the backhand shot," Fiala said. "The celly, it was nice to score against them for sure."
"That turned around the game to come into the locker room with a lead, it helps us to create that little bit more energy that maybe we needed tonight," Eriksson Ek said. "He's lights out. He does everything and it's so fun to watch."
Some added context behind what Fiala is doing right now:
A multi-point game Tuesday night against Arizona would tie Mats Zuccarello's franchise record of six-straight contests with multiple points. Zuccy did that back in January.
His 10-game point streak is tied for second-longest active streak in the NHL right now and is the second-longest of his career.
With the points, Fiala is up to 84 points on the season, two more than Marian Gaborik's old franchise record of 82 ... before Kirill Kaprizov obliterated that mark and has continued to build on it.
Needless to say, it's good to be Kevin Fiala right now.
"It's going well to be honest," Fiala said. "But I think the most what I've learned about this few weeks ... when I'm playing, I'm playing hockey, having fun and, and really, I don't think about anything else. I just think about right now, you know, so that helps for sure. Just staying focused and just don't think about anything else."
3. A special teams slugfest
If you took the over in this one, you got paid. Seven goals were scored between the two teams, and four of them came via the man advantage ... and there easily could have been more.
With Zuccarello back in Minnesota nursing a lower-body injury, Nick Bjugstad was elevated in the lineup, and even got some rare power-play time.
Wouldn't you know it, it was Bjugstad paying the believers with the game's first goal, a power-play tally he redirected into the crease and saw Predators defenseman Mark Borowiecki deflect into his own cage for a 1-0 lead.

Nashville's power play capitalized on a pair of chances in the second, and continued their ridiculous run of success against the Wild this season. In four games versus Minnesota, Nashville scored eight times on the power play.
After watching the Preds cash in twice on the power play, Eriksson Ek's second goal of the game, on the man advantage, was a big-time game changer.
Nashville's pair of goals with the extra man could have been real daggers, as they came only a few minutes after the Wild was unable to capitalize on a full two-minute 5-on-3 power play, which came immediately following Eriksson Ek's first goal of the game, a greasy one where the Predators challenged for goaltender interference.

Rittich was so convinced that he cross-checked Wild defenseman Jake Middleton out of his crease, which drew one penalty. Then the Preds' failed challenge for said interference resulted in a second.
By the end of the extended 5-on-3, Minnesota had a 29-9 edge in shots but led just 2-1 on the scoreboard, and one got that bad feeling ...
Sure enough, presented with two power plays, the Preds cashed in on them both and took the lead. But the Wild wasn't deterred, and indeed it's own power play came through again when it was sorely needed.
"Big 5-on-3, it's almost a must goal. But sometimes they do a good job and they blocked some shots there and we had some opportunities. Didn't go our way. But what you got to do? You gotta go and got to focus on the next shift," Fiala said. "It's always about the next shift and focusing on the next one, the next one. And that's why I think we are bouncing back for big, big when the other team's leading 4-1, 3-1, whatever. And then when they score big goals like that, we always bounce back, and it's been fantastic this year."
The win over Nashville salvaged the final game of the season series for Minnesota, which had lost each of the first three games against its Central rivals, all three by multiple goals.

Loose pucks

• The Wild is 19-2-4 over its past 25 games
• Matt Boldy had one assist to push his point streak to nine games, extending his own rookie record
• Kaprizov had two assists, giving him 10 points over the past four games and 18 points over his past 11
• Eriksson Ek tallied multiple goals in back-to-back games for the first time in his career
• Marc-Andre Fleury ran his winning streak to five games, improving 8-1-0 with a 2.77 goals-against average and a .911 save percentage
• Filip Forsberg had a goal and two assists
• Granlund had three assists
• Matt Duchene and Dante Fabbro each had one goal and one assist
• Rittich finished with 42 saves

Dan's three stars

1. Kevin Fiala
   2. Filip Forsberg
   3. Connor Dewar

Highlights