Last night was a great night for the Minnesota Wild. Zach Parise broke out of his goal scoring slump in a big way netting his third hat trick of the season in the first period. Jared Spurgeon scored two power play goals and the Wild PP went 3 for 5. Mikko Koivu dished out 3 assists and the Wild have their third four game winning streak in twenty games under John Torchetti.
The great night was not over at the final horn of the Wild game. Colorado was just beginning the third period of their game with Philadelphia tied at 1. The Avalanche grabbed the 2-1 lead 6:13 into the third on John Mitchell's tenth of the season and appeared to be in control as the period wore on. The Flyers quickly turned things in their favor though as Radko Gudas blasted his fifth of the year past Semyon Varlamov at the 14:17 mark and Claude Giroux gave the Flyers the lead for good nineteen seconds later.
The key to the Flyer comeback win was the fact that they accomplished it in regulation. The Wild now have a three point lead heading into Denver for tomorrow's matinee with the Avalanche. Colorado still has a game in hand on the Wild, combined with the fact that the Avalanche hold the tiebreaker advantage (regulation and OT wins 34 to the Wild 33) should the two teams end up with the same number of points.
Should be a fun one tomorrow in Denver.