Postgame Hat Trick: Wild 4, Red Wings 2

Wild.com's Dan Myers gives three takeaways from the Wild's 4-2 win against the Detroit Red Wings at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul on Wednesday night:

1. The Wild was credited with 4 goals, but actually scored a couple more than that.
Detroit led the contest 2-1 after 20 minutes, thanks to some really bad luck for the home team. Just over three minutes into the game, after the Wild posted the first six shots of the contest, Red Wings forward Filip Zadina was credited with a goal when his pass deflected off the shaft of the stick of Joel Eriksson Ek and under the cross bar.
Jordan Greenway got it back 80 seconds after that, but Zadina was the beneficiary of yet another bounce ... or two ... later in the period.

His shot from the right circle was stopped by Devan Dubnyk, but the rebound bounced off the leg of Jared Spurgeon and back into the crease where it was kicked through the five hole of Dubnyk by ... Ryan Suter.
If there was any doubt about the better team on this night, it was put to rest in the second.

Detroit didn't post a shot on goal until 8:15 into the period, and the Wild had taken a 3-2 lead by that point. At 1:12 of the second, Mats Zuccarello batted his own rebound out of mid-air and past Jimmy Howard to tie it before Jason Zucker rifled a shot top shelf 67 seconds later.

By the time Eric Staal put home a rebound at 11:39 to give the Wild a two-goal edge, Minnesota was outshooting the Red Wings by a 15-1 margin in the period.
2. Zach Parise ran his point streak to five games.
Parise, who scored twice in Pittsburgh last Tuesday then scored one goal in each game against Tampa Bay, Dallas and Florida, did not light the lamp on this night. But he was credited with the first assist on Staal's second-period goal to keep a point streak going.

No. 11 now has 26 points in his past 32 games and will be in pursuit of a career milestone once the team returns from the All-Star break/bye week. He's just two assists shy of 400 for his career.
3. Staal was honored before the game for reaching 1,000 NHL points.
The veteran centerman crossed the 1,000-point plateau last month, becoming just the 89th player in NHL history to do so.
As a reward, he, his wife and three sons were on the ice before the game as Wild General Manager Bill Guerin awarded Staal with the golden stick, emblematic of the accomplishment.

While the rest of the Wild heads to parts unknown for the All-Star break and bye week, Staal will embark on a trip south to St. Louis, where he will represent the Wild at the All-Star Game this weekend. It is his sixth trip to the game, and second since signing in Minnesota 3 1/2 years ago.
A bit of self promotion: Staal joined Ryan Carter and I for the latest edition of the
Neutral Zone Yap
, which just dropped today. Check it out:
https://www.stateofhockey.com/podcast
.