Parise's Hat Trick Leads Wild To 4-2 Victory Over Blue Jackets
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Zach Parise recently lost a couple of goals to instant replay. He wound up on the right side of an opponent's challenge Tuesday, though, and that led to a huge night for the Minnesota captain.
Parise scored his fourth career hat trick and second this season in leading the Wild to a 4-2 victory over the last-place Columbus Blue Jackets.
"I feel like the last few games, his game has really been coming," Minnesota coach Mike Yeo said. "He didn't score last game, but I think he needed a game like that."
Parise's empty-net goal with 57 seconds left gave Minnesota a 3-1 advantage. Nick Foligno cut the deficit to one 41 seconds later, a goal that was challenged by the Wild but upheld.
Mikael Granlund won the ensuing faceoff and scored into Columbus' empty net again 2 seconds later. The two goals 2 seconds apart tied an NHL record set by St. Louis and Boston on Dec. 19, 1987.
Granlund also had two assists, as did defenseman Ryan Suter.
Minnesota forward Mikko Koivu went hard into the boards after a shove by David Savard and was taken to the hospital as a precaution. The Wild said Koivu would fly home with the team Tuesday night.
Cam Atkinson scored for the Blue Jackets, his 12th of the season.
Parise scored his second goal of the game during a 4-on-4 at 12:43 of the second period. Columbus held a power play for 17 seconds following a high-sticking call on Justin Fontaine before Savard was whistled for hooking.
"Sometimes you need a big play or a big hit to get the team into it, but we didn't have that," said Foligno, the Columbus captain. "We allowed them to take over. We were in the game the whole game, just weren't able to get that killer instinct that we needed to play with."
Atkinson tied it 1-all early in the second off a feed from behind the net by Scott Hartnell.
Minnesota led 1-0 after Parise slipped a shot past goalie Anton Forsberg at 17:22 of the first. Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella challenged the goal, but it stood.
"I had a bad feeling about that," Parise said. "You couldn't disallow three in a week, right? I was thinking, here we go again, but luckily it went our way."
Forsberg started his first game of the season after earning his first career win in place of an injured Curtis McElhinney — who was filling in for Sergei Bobrovsky — on Saturday in Columbus' 5-4 shootout victory against Washington.
The Blue Jackets pulled Forsberg with 1:45 remaining, leaving their net empty.
Columbus had its best chance to tie the game in the second period while on the power play and before Savard's penalty, but couldn't capitalize when forward Ryan Johansen saw the puck hop over his stick to the left of an empty net.
"I just don't think there was an emotional attachment to the game," Foligno said. "We hit the post a couple times, but that's the difference in the game. You've got to score those goals. They scored theirs and we didn't. That's the difference in the game."
Forsberg, up from the minors on emergency recall due to injuries, stopped 29 of 31 shots.
Wild goalie Devan Dubnyk made 29 saves to earn his 17th win of the season.
The victory was Minnesota's first in 2016. The Wild had dropped back-to-back games at Tampa Bay and Carolina on Saturday and Sunday.
Columbus had won two straight.
NOTES: Parise's previous hat trick came in the season opener at Colorado on Oct. 8. ... Blue Jackets forward Brandon Saad had his point streak snapped at a career-high seven games. ... Attendance was 12,411.
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