Wild Blog: Parise's Hat Trick Leads Wild To Victory In Season Opener
By: WCCO Radio's Craig Schroepfer
The Colorado Avalanche started their 20th season in Denver on Thursday night, but Minnesota Wild's Zach Parise made sure there wouldn't be much of a celebration.
Parise's hat trick capped a third period rally as Minnesota erased a three goal deficit enroute to a 5-4 victory.
The game could not have started out worse for the Wild as Colorado jumped out to a 3-0 lead.
The first goal for the Avalanche came on the power play as Jonas Brodin was given a two minute minor for holding at 13:33. Seven seconds later Jarome Iginla would score his 38 career goal against Minnesota, giving Colorado a 1-0 lead.
Colorado's next goal would come again on the power play. With Mikko Koivu in the penalty box for delay of game, Erik Johnson would score on a slap shot from the blue line at 17:24 to give the Avalanche a 2-0 lead.
Then with a little over a minute to play in the first period, Gabriel Landeskog would play the puck off the boards and put it past Devan Dubnyk to make it 3-0 Colorado, leaving Wild fans shaking their head wondering what was going on.
"We just weren't thinking early." defenseman Ryan Suter said. "We were just trying to shoot pucks to the sides of them, trying to get it behind them because they come out so aggressive. A lot of those pucks were getting turned over and coming back at us."
Parise would get the Wild on the board at 6:55 in the second period when his wrist shot beat Seymon Varlamov glove side to make it 3-1. The joy was short lived however as at 8:07 of the second period John Mitchell would answer to give Colorado a three goal lead again at 4-1.
The third period rally started for Minnesota at 5:07 with Parise scoring his second goal of the game to make it 4-2. Nearly two minutes later, Nino Neiderreiter would score at 7:05 of the third period to make it 4-3.
Minnesota would then tie the game at 9:18 of the third when Thomas Vanek would fire a snap shot past Varlamov, making it 4-4.
Nineteen seconds later, Landeskog would be penalized for interference. The Wild took advantage of the power play as Parise fired a slapshot past Varlamov, giving him the hat trick and, most importantly, the Wild their first lead of the game.
"You never expect that in a road game." Parise said of his hat trick. "That was pretty cool. We always have a good crowd here behind us. I don't know if they are from Minnesota and moved here or if they traveled, but we always have a good crowd behind us. You don't expect hats on the ice during a road game buts it's fun."
With the comeback win Minnesota shows how resilient they can be and that the Wild can never be counted out of a game.
"There's not a situation in a game that we don't feel like we can come back and win." Dubnyk said. "We feel like if we are down 1-0 we can get two or if it's tied we can get one. Or even four in a period; we are capable of doing it."
It's only the first game but to be able to steal a victory on the road and pick up two points against a division opponent is a great way for Minnesota to start the season.
The Wild won't have a lot of time to enjoy this win however as the St. Louis Blues are in town for the home opener on Saturday night. Puck drops at 7 p.m.
