The Vancouver Canucks visited St. Paul this afternoon for a matinee game against the Minnesota Wild (why the h-e- double hockey sticks) would the NHL schedule a matinee game on a Monday afternoon??? I digress. With under a minute left in the second period, the Canucks were leading 5-2. You could say that things were not looking particularly well for the home team. Canuck center, J.T. Miller already had a hat trick for Vancouver and the first-place team in the Pacific division were just looking to wrap things up in the third.
However, over the span of 5:45 between the end of the second and into the third, the Wild scored SIX goals. Yes, you read that right – six goals. Joel Eriksson Ek scored two in the third to get a hat trick and before the game was over, Kirill Kaprizov got a hattie as well. Three combined hat tricks in the game between the teams. Five goals came in under five minutes. The final ended up being 10-7 with the Wild victorious in a wild game!! The six pack of goals was the fastest six in the NHL in 25 years when the Capitols scored six against the Lightning in 4:47 back in 1999.
The Wild set an all-time team record with the ten goals for the game. Not only that, but they also set a team-record for the number of goals scored in a period with seven in the third. This was also the first regular-season game in the NHL since 1992 in which three hat tricks were scored (the L.A. Kings had three against San Jose).
Marc-Andre Fleury picked up his 555th career win. Mats Zuccarello, Matt Boldy, Marco Rossi and Jonas Brodin each added a goal with Kaprizov and Ericksson Ek had their hat tricks.
Hopefully, the Wild still have some offensive firepower tomorrow night as they travel to Winnipeg. The opening faceoff is at 7pm on ESPN+. Thankfully, the rink personnel at the X will have some time to change out the worn-out nets before the next home contest for the Wild. Not much else to say after today’s beatdown of the Canucks. Go Wild!!!!
The Morning Skate 