When the Wild retreated to their locker room after two periods, they had a textbook intermission.
Wild stun Canucks with seven goals in third period to win 10-7
Facing the best team in the NHL, the Wild set a franchise record for goals behind hat tricks from Kirill Kaprizov and Joel Eriksson Ek.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
February 20, 2024 at 5:51PM
Their message didn’t change much from what had already been discussed, and they looked ahead to the rest of the game.
“Nothing out of the ordinary,” winger Matt Boldy said.
But what happened next wasn’t typical at all.
The Wild erupted for a franchise-record seven goals in the third period, including three in a row on the power play, to stun the NHL-leading Vancouver Canucks with a 10-7 rally Monday afternoon at Xcel Energy Center for their most jaw-dropping win of the season, lifting them two points back of a playoff spot.
“It’s nuts,” Boldy said. “I don’t think I’ve ever been a part of something like that where they just kept going in one after another.”
Hat tricks and six-point performances by Joel Eriksson Ek and Kirill Kaprizov led the comeback, which started with 33 seconds to go in the second period when Mats Zuccarello slid a shot under the right pad of Vancouver goaltender Casey DeSmith during a 5-on-3 power play.
Before the period adjourned, the Wild were awarded another goal that was eventually overturned by video review for not entering the net, but they still benefited from the sequence: Elias Pettersson took a third consecutive penalty for the Canucks, and that allowed the Wild to begin the third period in another 5-on-3 setup.
That’s when Zuccarello fed Eriksson Ek for a redirect in front only 29 seconds after puck drop.
Seconds later, another Vancouver infraction gave the Wild a fourth 5-on-3 (they blanked on their first try in the first period) and Kaprizov flung in a one-timer at 1:23 after a frenzied scramble in front.
“The referee just say, ‘Keep playing,’” Kaprizov said. “Nice play by Zuccy. Good pass.”
Zuccarello orchestrated the go-ahead goal, too, during the ensuing 5-on-4 power play by again finding Eriksson Ek, who wired the puck by the Canucks’ DeSmith (17 saves) at 1:44 for his second career hat trick and team-leading 28th goal, which is a career high. So is Eriksson Ek’s four-game goal streak.
“PK, power play, 5-on-5, he always battling,” Kaprizov said.
The Wild finished 4-for-6 on the power play despite not practicing their 5-on-3 scheme much; Vancouver was 1-for-3.
“A lot of it’s just find space, get open, a little bit of structure, but nothing too crazy,” Boldy shared. “You see Zuccy, you want him to have the puck. He’s so talented, so good at finding guys, and making the goal easy.”
This blitz came in 2:17, the fastest four goals the Wild have ever scored.
Add in a deflection off Marco Rossi at 4:48 and another one-timer from Kaprizov at 5:12 and the Wild tallied the fourth-fastest six goals in NHL history at 5:45.
And they needed all eight of those goals to hold off the Canucks because Nikita Zadorov (8:26) and Burnsville’s Brock Boeser (17:52) cut Vancouver’s deficit to a single tally before Jonas Brodin drained an empty-netter with 1:07 to go. Kaprizov then did the same with 1.9 seconds left to seal his fourth NHL hat trick and 10 goals for the Wild, a team record. His surge in the third also tied the Wild record for goals in a period.
The six points Kaprizov and Eriksson Ek picked up matched Marian Gaborik for most points in a Wild game. Their line with Boldy racked up 16.
“Third period was crazy,” Kaprizov said.
Especially when considering the start.
The Canucks scored on their first two shots of the game, at 2:51 (Ian Cole) and with 6:39 left in the first period (J.T. Miller).
A carom off Eriksson Ek’s skate with 50 seconds remaining in the first was a helpful response by the Wild, but then Pettersson (5:37) and Miller (9:24) widened Vancouver’s lead.
Boldy finished off a breakaway only 1:36 after Miller’s power-play goal, but Miller’s hat trick 3:30 after that sunk the Wild back into a three-goal hole.
Still, they believed the game was within reach at 5-3 after two periods and replaced Filip Gustavsson (11 saves) with Marc-Andre Fleury, who made six stops in relief.
The rest is history.
“I’m sure the fans were really excited to watch it,” Eriksson Ek said, “but I don’t know about the coaches.”
Alex Ovechkin has a broken left fibula and is expected to be out four to six weeks, an injury that pauses the Washington Capitals superstar captain’s pursuit of Wayne Gretzky’s NHL career goals record.
