Minnesota Wild: Zach Parise’s hat trick pushes Wild to comeback win
Zach Parise is on pace for 246 goals this season. That would be an NHL record. That kind of pace is what happens when your should-be captain registers a hat trick on the opening night of the season. The Minnesota Wild won the opener 5-4 over the Colorado Avalanche in big comeback fashion.
It didn’t look good to start for the Wild. The Avalanche scored two goals in the first period off of power play and three total to put the Wild in a big hole. Parise got his first goal of the night in the second period and the Avs put in another to make it a 4-1 game going into the third. That’s when it got interesting.
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The Wild scored four goals in the third period, all goals within the 5:07 of play. It was the fastest four goals in the history of the Minnesota Wild. Not that the history is too long, but still impressive.
Parise bookended the four goals in the third period with Nino Neiderreiter and Thomas Vanek sandwiched right in the middle of the Parise scoring parade.
Two members of the Wild were a positive three in the plus/minus. Those two were Mikael Grandlund and Jason Pominville.
Parise and Jason Zucker lead the team with shots on goal with six. Vanek right behind with four. Ryan Carter registered three shots on goal. Charlie Coyle, Matt Dumba, and Pominville all registered two.
Devan Dubnyk allowed four goals and went 19/23 on the night. Semyon Varlamov was 25/30 for Colorado.
The Wild next play on Saturday against the St. Louis Blues in the home opener. Puck drop is scheduled for seven central from St. Paul.
Next: NHL 16 predictions for the Wild!