Niederreiter's five best moments from 2017-18 campaign

In a season marked by injuries, Nino Niederreiter still managed to pull out the stops with some big goals and clutch plays. Take a look back at the top five highlights from Niederreiter's 2017-18 season.

5. 12 seconds in, Niederreiter rips one past Flyers' Brian Elliott

Minnesota swept the Flyers in the 2017-18 season, shutting Philadelphia out in both contests between the teams. After a 1-0 victory on the East Coast, the series shifted to Minnesota, where Niederreiter wasted no time in reasserting the Wild's dominance.
Just 12 seconds into the game, the puck found its way to Niederreiter's stick and, shortly thereafter, the back of the net.
Eric Staal pressured a Flyer along the boards, forcing him to turn over the puck. Staal shoved it to Niederreiter, who instantly whipped it over Elliott's shoulder for a highlight-reel goal on the first shot of the evening.

4. Niederreiter opens the scoring on Boston

It was far from a solo effort, but Niederreiter did a lot of heavy lifting in getting the Wild on the board against the Bruins on Nov. 6. After scooping the puck around the boards to Jared Spurgeon on the blue line, Niederreiter positioned himself in front of the crease.
Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask gave up a rebound on Ryan Suter's shot, putting the puck right onto Niederreiter's stick. Taking advantage of an off-balance Rask, Niederreiter pulled the puck around him and whipped it into an empty net, keeping perfect control to outsmart the Boston netminder.

3. 100th goal comes after dogged net-front effort

If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. And again, and again.
Though the Wild would ultimately drop its Feb. 15 game against the eventual Stanley Cup champion Washington Capitals, Niederreiter hit a personal milestone by scoring his 100th goal to get the Wild on the board.
Gustav Olofsson fired a shot from the point, and Washington's Philipp Grubauer gave up the rebound right to Niederreiter. The forward continued to try to stuff the puck behind Grubauer, and finally succeeded right from the goal line to give the Wild a jolt of life.

2. Niederreiter pots a hat trick in his first game back from injury

After missing five games with an injury, Niederreiter made his impact felt almost immediately on Jan. 4, scoring just 1:09 into the game.
But he wasn't done yet, scoring his second of the night at 13:53 of the first period and his third 4:02 into the second period. To cap things off, Niederreiter's parents were in town from Switzerland, there to watch their son pick up his second career hat trick.
Not a bad re-introduction into the lineup.

1. In front of his biggest fan and good luck charm, Niederreiter scores game-winner

On March 24, the Wild and Make-a-Wish hosted
Amare Hanson
, a seven-year-old with a heart condition whose favorite player wears jersey No. 22.
After signing a one-day contract and spending time with Niederreiter and the team, Hanson got a chance to watch the game. He predicted his favorite forward would score, and Niederreiter didn't disappoint. Joel Eriksson Ek got the Wild on the board early in the second period, and Niederreiter would break the ice nearly 11 minutes later to give the Wild a lead it wouldn't give up.
Minnesota went on to win 4-1 over Nashville, prompting Niederreiter to call Hanson his "good luck charm" after the game. Looks like Hanson will have to make the trip from Bena, Minnesota down to St. Paul a few more times soon.

Related:
- Zucker's top five moments from 2017-18 - Top five moments from Staal's resurgent campaign