Postgame Hat Trick: Red Wings 3, Wild 2 (OT)

Wild.com's Dan Myers gives three takeaways from the Wild's 3-2 overtime loss against the Detroit Red Wings at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit on Sunday afternoon:

1. Nate Prosser was outstanding, helping short-circuit a pair of grade-A chances before sniping a goal of his own late in the second period.
Okay, sniping may be a bit generous, but his goal at 16:14 of the period was a big one for the Wild.
Prosser's first big play came in the first period when he spoiled what likely would have been a sure goal in front of his own net. Then, with eight minutes left in the second, Prosser tracked down speedy Detroit winger Andreas Athanasiou, knocking him off the puck to stifle a breakaway chance.
His reward: a long-awaited goal with 3:46 remaining in period two that gave Minnesota a 2-1 lead.

After Antanasiou couldn't get a clear, Prosser corralled the puck at the right point and flipped it towards Wings goaltender Jimmy Howard. The shot was innocent enough, and it likely would have been gloved down easily had Detroit forward Dylan Larkin not reached out to try to knock it down with his stick.
Larkin's blade tipped the puck just enough off course to elude Howard's glove, and it deflected in off the right post for Prosser's first goal in more than two years (Feb. 14, 2015), a span of 106 games.

"It feels good to score again. It's been a long time. But it doesn't mean anything unless it's for a win," Prosser said. "We've gotta take our compete level and our battle level from tonight to Tuesday, whenever our next game is at home. We've gotta be ready to go because no games are going to be easy. Every team is almost in playoff mode right now and we've gotta make sure that we continue to build our game and head that way, head that direction."
2. Minnesota (44-24-7) nearly led by two heading to the first intermission, but instead left the period tied at 1.
Video: MIN@DET: Staal rips a wrister top-shelf on a breakway
Eric Staal scored his 26th goal 9:43 into the game to give the Wild an early lead. With under a minute left in the period, Staal intercepted a clearing attempt by a Red Wings defenseman and had nothing but space between him and Howard. Unfortunately for the Wild, Staal's shot missed over the net.
Following an icing moments later, Detroit (30-32-12) won a faceoff to Devan Dubnyk's right. Mike Green and Niklas Kronwall played a quick game of catch, with Kronwall feathering a pass back to Green for a one-timer that beat Dubnyk with 18.5 seconds left in the period.
It was the third time in as many games the Wild has allowed a goal in either the first or final seconds of a period; Philadelphia and Vancouver each scored within the first 21 seconds of the second frame against Minnesota.
"It's frustrating. I don't know, I don't want to say too much. I haven't had a chance to watch [Green's goal]," Dubnyk said. "Obviously not a play we want to give up with the faceoff in our end at that point, but again, I'm not gonna say much about it other than we don't want to give that goal up. But we came back and got the lead."
Adding to the misery: Detroit tied the game in the third period on a power-play goal that came just 55 seconds in.
"Obviously you never want that to happen, but it doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things when they score goals," Prosser said. "We've gotta be able to bounce back. And I think if they get one early in the third, we've gotta be ready to go, 'Okay, next shift, next two shifts we've gotta be ready to pounce back on them.' I thought tonight we did do that, just came up a little short."
3. For the first time in nearly a month, the Wild played a game that wasn't decided in regulation.
Last time, it was a Mikael Granlund highlight-reel tally seconds into a 5-4 overtime win over the Los Angeles Kings on Feb. 27.
The Wild wasn't as fortunate this time around as Athanasiou waited out a Dubnyk poke check and stuffed the puck into an open net with 3:08 left in overtime.
Despite the defeat, Wild coach Bruce Boudreau thought it was a step in the right direction, especially when compared to the previous two outings.

"I thought we played a good game," Boudreau said. "That's the best game we've played in a month. It helped to hold this team under 20 shots in their building, where they count everything that even looks like a shot. That's pretty good.
"We played the right way today. We got it deep when we needed to get it deep. You didn't see the constant odd-man rushes against for the most part. You saw playing the smart way. We had good chances to score and when the game but we didn't."

Loose pucks

• Dubnyk finished with 16 saves.
• Parise and Brodin tallied the lone assists for Minnesota. Brodin was a game-high plus-2.
• Howard stopped 24 shots for the Red Wings.
• Detroit has earned at least one point in five of its past six games.
• Attendance: 20,027

He said it

"We were doing a good job for almost the entire game of getting pucks deep and going to work. That's what we've talked about doing. It's definitely a step up from yesterday's game and we're just gonna keep playing." -- Wild goaltender Devan Dubnyk

They said it

"It looked really nice and nasty. He has tremendous speed, and it's great to see him use it." -- Red Wings forward Tomas Tatar on Athanasiou's game-winning goal

Dan's three stars

* Gustav Nyquist
\\ Nate Prosser
\\* Jimmy Howard