The Minnesota Wild (7-10-4) won 6-1 over the red-hot Nashville Predators (11-11-0) inside Bridgestone Arena Thursday night for their second straight win.
For the first time this season, the Wild scored three times in the first period. Connor Dewar took center stage Thursday night with his first career hat trick and four-point game. He had five shots and finished with a +3 rating in 14:12 of ice time.
Later in the third period, Dewar scored a fourth time, but it was taken off the board due to offsides. The 24-year-old center opened the scoring for a Wild team that has struggled to get the first goal and has been at the top of the league this season in minutes trailed.
Dewar scored on Brandon Duhaime's rebound six minutes and eight seconds into the contest, a lead that was doubled when Jake Middleton's backhander beat Juuse Saros (four goals allowed on 15 shots) high glove with about six minutes left in the first period.
The Predators unsuccessfully challenged Middleton's goal for offsides, and Kirill Kaprizov scored on the ensuing power play. Kaprizov's one-timer from the right circle off Mats Zuccarello's cross-ice feed fooled Saros, resulting in a 3-0 lead.
The assist extended Zuccarello's point streak to eight games, and the Wild are now 4-0 this season when they have the lead after the first period.
Pat Maroon tipped Alex Goligoski's point shot to give the Wild a 4-0 lead a minute and 43 seconds into the middle frame.
Dewar scored the Wild's final two goals, the fifth one on a breakaway and the sixth one from the blue paint. He scored both on Kevin Lankinen, who made 14 saves on 16 shots in relief for Saros.
Sandwiched between his goals was Jusso Parssinen's even-strength marker that broke Filip Gustavsson's (26 saves for a .963 save percentage and 1.03 goals saved above expected) shutout bid.
The Wild snapped the Predators six-game winning streak Thursday and had 13 players record a point in what was one of their better games this season. The Wild controlled 54.63 percent of the shot attempt share and 64.56 percent of the expected goal share.
The Wild scored five even-strength goals and got one on the power play, and their penalty kill went a perfect 4-for-4 and is now 8-for-8 in the past two games.
The Wild didn't have a four-goal lead this season before Thursday, and it was the first time they've had a three-goal lead since Oct. 17 in Montreal.
"We're a completely different team right now," Maroon told the media postgame.
That's for sure.
The Wild definitely don't look like the team that had lost seven in a row and 13 of 16 from Oct. 19 to Nov. 26.
The Wild are now 2-0 and have outscored the opposition 9-2 since John Hynes replaced Dean Evason — who was fired along with assistant Bob Woods on Monday — behind the bench. Both Brock Faber and Marcus Foligno called the coaching change a "wake up call," and they've responded with wins against the Blues and Predators.
Thursday's win marked the first time this season the Wild have won two games in a row in regulation, and it came in Hynes' first game back in Nashville after coaching the Predators for parts of four seasons from 2020-23.
Both wins have come without one of their top offensive players in Ryan Hartman, who will return Sunday after serving a two-game suspension.
The Wild, who sit No. 7 in the Central ahead of Chicago with 18 points, still have a lot of work to do — but have gained a little ground on the Jets (26), Blues (25), Coyotes (24) and Predators (22) who hold spots three through six.
The Wild face the Blackhawks Sunday afternoon before a four-game road trip next week in Calgary, Vancouver, Edmonton and Seattle.
All data via Natural Stat Trick