Wild snap four-game losing streak with Niederreiter's first hat trick
ST. PAUL, Minn. -- The injured and ill Minnesota Wild needed something -- anything -- to snap out of their current four-game losing streak.
How about a hat trick from Nino Niederreiter to cure what ailed them?
Niederreiter netted his first career hat trick, capping it with an empty-netter late in the game to seal Minnesota's 6-3 victory Thursday over Buffalo. With a few defensemen out with the mumps and forward Zach Parise still sidelined with a concussion, the Wild were a bit shorthanded against a Sabres team that had won just three games all year.
The Wild took advantage of a struggling Buffalo squad to pull themselves out of their own rut. Niederreiter deserved plenty of the credit Thursday.
"It's definitely a great feeling to get that first career hat trick, but at the end of the day I feel like we did a lot of good things tonight," Niederreiter. "There were moments where we got a little sloppy, but overall we got the win and we're happy about it."
Niederreiter's first tally came amid a crazy flurry of three total goals in a 17-second span. After Ryan Carter's goal stood following an official's review, the Wild tied things up 1-1 at the 6:07 mark of the first period. Just seven seconds later came the first of Niederreiter's three goals. He found the puck after the faceoff at center ice and poked it to Charlie Coyle. As Niederreiter skated toward the net, Coyle returned the puck to set up Niederreiter's backhand goal against Sabres goalie Jhonas Enroth.
Niederreiter and the Wild didn't have much time to celebrate his first goal of the game, though, as Buffalo responded a mere 10 seconds later when Zemgus Girgensons chased Minnesota goalie Darcy Kuemper after the Sabres' second goal of the night on just their second shot.
"Obviously when they got the first goal, we've got to push and we've got to find a way to score goals and just find a way to play our game and just win this hockey game," Niederreiter said. "And we got better as the game went on, and then we got sloppy again and then we pushed back again, which just helped us get the win."
Kyle Brodziak scored his third of the year later in the first to put Minnesota back on top, and Niederreiter netted his second of the period at the 17:52 mark. This one came on the power play, just the Wild's third goal of the year with the man-advantage. Minnesota entered the night just 2 for 44 on the power play this year, so Niederreiter helped the Wild break out of that slump, too.
On the power play goal, Niederreiter camped in front of the net and took a pass from the faceoff circle from Mikael Granlund. Niederreiter redirected the puck past Enroth for a 4-2 lead and his second goal of the game.
"He had a great game all game," Wild coach Mike Yeo said of Niederreiter. "I've been talking to him about where he scores his goals from and those first couple goals are prime example. He's got a great shot, he's going to score some goals off the rush, but he needs to be in a hurry to get to that blue paint because he's a tough guy to contain down there."
Niederreiter had two periods to try for the hat trick, and he had several good chances. One of his best looks came in the third period when he rang a shot off the pipe during a Sabres power play. He skated in on a 2-on-1 rush and nearly beat Enroth for a shorthanded goal, which would have completed the hat trick.
Instead, Niederreiter had to wait until Enroth left the net in the game's final minutes. As Minnesota gathered the puck in its own zone, Coyle and Niederreiter skated toward the Buffalo zone. Coyle found Niederreiter, who didn't miss on that chance for his third goal of the night.
It was Niederreiter's seventh goal of the year. It was also the first hat trick by a Wild player since defenseman Ryan Suter scored three times against Washington on Jan. 4 of last season.
As dozens of hats rained down on the ice, Niederreiter celebrated with his teammates. They all needed this win, and they can thank Niederreiter for providing the spark.
"I think it was definitely very huge, after a four-game stretch where we didn't play our best hockey," Niederreiter said. "Tonight we played a couple very solid periods and then the third period we kind of fell on our heels and didn't play the way we wanted to play, and that kind of puts us back to reality. It's not easy to win in this league, but at the end of the day we found a way and that's good."
Follow Tyler Mason on Twitter
