No single win, Minnesota coach John Hynes said, is worth more than two points. That’s especially true for a team like the Wild, trying to rally from a bad start to make the postseason for the fourth straight season.
That even includes the Wild’s 10-7, come-from-behind victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Monday at Xcel Energy Center.
“I don’t really believe in statement wins,” Hynes said after his team scored five unanswered goals in the first 5 minutes, 12 seconds of the third period to erase a 5-3 deficit and take nominal control of a game that very quickly got out of control.
Joel Eriksson Ek and Kirill Kaprizov each scored hat tricks, two goals each among those five unanswered goals, and Jonas Brodin added a big empty-netter with 1:07 remaining to nail down two points that — combined with a loss by the St. Louis Blues — pushed the Wild within two points of the eighth and final Western Conference postseason spot for the first time since Dec. 23.
“We did a lot of good things,” said center Ryan Hartman, whose assist made him one of 10 players to record at least a point. “Can’t say we defended really well, giving up seven goals, but we responded the right way. Ten should do it.”
After combining for four regulation goals in two previous games this season, the Wild and Canucks exploded for 17 on Monday. Minnesota set a franchise record for total goals and goals in a period, and improved to 2-1-0 against the Canucks, who have an NHL-best 80 points this season.
Trailing 5-2 with less than a minute left in the second period, the Wild scored six unanswered goals — three of them on 5-on-3 power plays — to take an 8-5 lead with just under 15 minutes to play.
It was a terrific afternoon for a sellout crowd of 19,024 partisans in attendance. For Hynes, only briefly.
“When we had a three-goal lead it was,” he said. “Then it was quickly erased.”
The Canucks were called for seven penalties to the Wild’s four, the last a delay-of-game after J.T. Miller — who scored a hat trick for Vancouver — flipped the puck out of bounds on a penalty kill.
“These are lessons that we have to learn how to play under pressure,” Canucks coach Rick Tocchet said. “Stick penalties. Our 5-on-5 play was good; a lot of chances. Obviously, the other parts of our game weren’t good.”
Eriksson Ek and Kaprizov each had a career-high six points, tying a franchise record (Marian Gaborik did it twice), and Matt Boldy and Mats Zuccarello each finished with a goal and four points for the Wild, who quickly boarded a plane for Winnipeg, where they will play the Jets at 7 p.m. Tuesday.
The Wild’s top line of Kaprizov, Eriksson Ek and Boldy combined for 16 points. Kaprizov and Eriksson Ek are the first teammates to each earn six points in a game since Wayne Gretzky and Tomas Sandstrom for the Los Angeles Kings in 1993.
“We played together before, at the beginning of the season,” Kaprizov said. “It’s good to come back. We play well together. We mesh well, and things go well. So, yeah, it’s a lot of fun.”
Shots were at a premium for much of the game, and a lot of them found the back of the net. Ian Cole, Elias Petterson, Nikita Zadorov each added a goal against Wild goaltender Filip Gustavsson, who stopped 11 of 16 shots before being relieved by Marc-Andre Fleury to start the third period. Fleury made six saves on eight shots, allowing goals to Nikita Zadorov and Brock Boeser that made it 8-7 with 2:09 left to play.
Casey DeSmith — who entered the game with a 5-0-1 record and 1.63 goals-against average in six starts against the Wild — stopped 17 of 25 shots.
Minnesota improved to 5-0-1 since returning from the all-star break with a 2-1 victory at Chicago on Feb. 7. They’re 9-3-1 since Jan. 15 and have three road games this week against conference rivals Winnipeg on Tuesday, Edmonton on Friday and Seattle on Saturday.
“I think we know how we have to play, the style that suits us best to get points — a lot of guys in here doing it for each other, for the guy next to him,” Boldly said. “And I think that’s kind of the mindset pushing forward to kind of find that playoff spot.”
