Postgame Hat Trick: Wild 6, Red Wings 5 (SO)

Wild.com's Dan Myers gives three takeaways from the Wild's 6-5 shootout win against the Detroit Red Wings at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit on Thursday night:

1. You don't see that every day
Thursday night's Wild win in Detroit was... well, wild.
You just had the sense that something was going to be abnormal about that game, pretty much from the time Red Wings goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic swatted a bouncing deflected dump in right between his legs and into his own cage in the first period.
It was the kind of rare play you just don't see very often, much like game as a whole.

The Wild led twice in the first period, but went to intermission trailing.
After a somewhat normal second period, the teams had a line brawl after the final horn, complete with Wild goaltender Cam Talbot coming down and challenging Nedeljkovic to put up his dukes. Officials peeled Talbot off the pile of bodies before the goalies could go, escorting Talbot then Nedeljkovic to their respective benches, while the rest of the players were wrestling on the ice.
Tweet from @mnwildScribe: Yardsale pic.twitter.com/E2TDv4SWY6
"You never know. You have to expect the unexpected at that point," Talbot said. "At first I was just going down to grab him and pull him off and make it even. If it came to that so be it. At that point I was just trying to pull guys off."
But that stick-to-itiveness paid off in the long run.
Minnesota, inexplicably, came out of the fracas shorthanded to start the third, killed the penalty, then scored the next two goals to wrestle a lead back from the Red Wings.

"I think you see it in those scrums, there's nobody off standing on the side by themselves, everyone is in there helping each other out," said Wild forward Matt Boldy. "Moose, he pulls guy after guy off and then goes in and gets another one and just sticking together and having that mentality is how our team is and that's kind of the basis of a good locker room and good teammates.
"Guys are fired up I think, guys are excited to go out there and find a way to score some goals and get the lead and stuff like that. I think we handled it pretty well, it was used the right way not the wrong way for sure."
Detroit scored to tie the game in the final three minutes of regulation, but the madness finally came to a close in the shootout when Mats Zuccarello and Kevin Fiala scored for the Wild, while Jakub Vrana missed the net and Dylan Larkin hit the post on the other end.
The bottom line? The Wild got on the bus and headed south to Columbus with two points packed firmly away.

"We were up and down. But it was a very emotional game," said Wild coach Dean Evason. "There's a lot of intensity right now which probably is a good thing. We need to be that intense in order for us to play the way that we want to play. We did play the right way tonight. That's a good team. We don't see these teams a lot and you look at records and it's like how the heck does that happen because they got speed and size and maybe inexperience a little bit but real good team. Real good team."
2. Matty loves MoTown
Boldy played an integral part in the win, just like he did in Minnesota's 7-4 victory over the Red Wings in St. Paul last month. In that one, he tallied his first NHL hat trick and also added an assist.
Tonight, he had to settle for a two-goal game, including the monster tying goal early in the third period that got the Wild charted in the right direction.
The secret sauce? Boldy's dad, Todd, was in the stands ... as he's been for almost every monster game Boldy's had in his two months in the league.

"That's a trend that keeps going," Boldy said. "Might have to get him to more."
Both of Boldy's goals came off sweet feeds, the first one from Kevin Fiala behind the goal line to Boldy in the slot, and the second from Freddy Gaudreau, where Boldy fired from a very similar position.

That incredible chemistry just will not relent, not that the Wild wants it to.
"They were both unreal, both made it easy for me, they have all year," Boldy said. "Both those plays you kind of expect them to make and both were on my tape and I was lucky enough to find the back of the net."

In six periods of play against the Red Wings this season, Boldy has five goals and an assist. Not bad, kid.
"It's obviously nice to get a win, but a win's a win at this point," Boldy said. "Take what you can from it and learn from the mistakes, but you win the game. That's what matters."
3. Hi-diddily-ho it's a goal
Nedeljkovic's oopsie in the first period had to have made him the loneliest man at Little Caesars Arena.
Dumba's dump-in attempt was deflected by Eriksson Ek from outside the offensive zone, and all Ned was trying to do was paddle the puck out up to his defenseman.

Instead, he mostly missed the bouncing puck, catching just enough of it to pop it between his own wickets and into the cage.
The play immediately made the rounds on social media and will undoubtedly be on all the highlight shows for awhile.
Even Talbot, who tried to drop the mitts with Nedeljkovic later in the game, said he felt bad for his goaltending compadre.

"Those are never easy. You know that they can go against you at some point and they have in my career. I know what he felt like on that one," Talbot said. "It's one of the worst feelings when you do something like that.
"I feel for him. But we'll definitely take it."

Loose pucks

• The win was Minnesota's seventh multi-goal comeback this season, most in the NHL since 2019-20.
• The Wild has won its past five against Detroit
• Eriksson Ek's multi-point night was his eighth this season. His 31 points are a new career high
• Kaprizov's third-period goal extended his point streak to seven games. His 72 points are the fourth-most by a Wild player in team history
• Gaudreau had two assists. Five of his seven career multi-point games have come this season
• Boldy ranks second among NHL rookies in goals and points since his debut on Jan. 6
• Talbot finished with 29 saves
• Nedeljkovic stopped 35 of 40 shots

Dan's three stars

1. Matt Boldy
   2. Lucas Raymond
   3. Freddy Gaudreau

Highlights