The Minnesota Wild found themselves trailing by three goals in the second period of Monday’s game against the Vancouver Canucks. However, the Wild never wavered and came from behind to defeat the Canucks 10-7 in a record-filled affair.
Forwards Kirill Kaprizov and Joel Eriksson Ek both registered hat tricks, while Canucks star J.T. Miller also tallied a hat trick. It marked the first game with three hat tricks since Luc Robitaille, Jari Kurri and Mike Donnelly each had one for the Los Angeles Kings on Nov. 8, 1992.
Kaprizov and Eriksson Ek also became the first pair of NHL teammates to each record six points in a game since Wayne Gretzky and Tomas Sandstrom accomplished the feat for the Kings on Oct. 9, 1993. Minnesota’s top line of Kaprizov, Eriksson Ek, and Matt Boldy combined to record 16 points in the win.
When Miller scored at the 14:30 mark of the second period, the Canucks took a commanding 5-2 lead, and looked to be in the driver’s seat. However, the Wild scored seven of the next nine goals to complete the comeback, including scoring five consecutive goals to take an 8-5 lead.
Kaprizov and Eriksson Ek combined to score four of the goals during that stretch, while rookie forward Marco Rossi had the other tally.
The Canucks did receive goals from Nikita Zadorov and Brock Boeser to make it an 8-7 game, but the Wild responded with a pair of goals to put the game out of reach.
With the 10-goal outburst, the Wild set a new franchise record for goals in a game. In addition, Minnesota set a team record for goals in a period as they scored on seven occasions in the final period. It marked the most in a period by an NHL team since the Washington Capitals racked up eight goals in the second period of a 10-1 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Feb. 3, 1999.
The Wild also scored four goals over a 2-minute, 17-second stretch, which marked the fastest span of such a performance in franchise history. The previous record was set when they scored four goals in just under three and a half minutes on March 6, 2018.
In addition, Minnesota scored six goals over a 5-minute, 45-second stretch, and was the fastest to accomplish that feat since the Capitals did so in that 1999 contest.
The Wild ended up becoming the third team to score 10 goals in a game during the 2023-24 season as they joined the Canucks (Nov. 2, 2023) and Pittsburgh Penguins (Nov. 4, 2023).
