Nino Niederreiter's hat trick propels Wild past Buffalo 6-2

 

At full strength for the first time this season, the Wild flexed its skill like it rarely had through the first half.

And the final player to return to the lineup was the star of the 6-2 rout of the Sabres Thursday at Xcel Energy Center, a victory that improved the Wild to an eye-popping 11-1-1 over its past 13 games at home.

Winger Nino Niederreiter scored his second career hat trick, completing the feat in just over a period to help propel the Wild to one of its signature triumphs of the season just two nights after rolling past the Panthers 5-1.

Overall, the top line featuring Niederreiter, captain Mikko Koivu and winger Mikael Granlund shined – combining for nine points, with Koivu also chipping in a goal amid a season-high three-point effort.

It didn’t take long for Niederreiter to settle back in after missing the previous five games with a left ankle injury.

Just 1 minute, 9 seconds after puck drop, Niederreiter capitalized on the team’s first shot by one-timing a feed from Granlund.

By the Wild’s third shot, at 2:15, the team had a 2-0 lead, as winger Daniel Winnik wired a puck glove-side on Buffalo goalie Robin Lehner after carrying the puck through the neutral zone and into the Sabres’ end.

Coach Bruce Boudreau opted to keep the fourth line together amid Niederreiter’s return instead of shuffling the unit, and the trio rewarded him for the decision as this was the third goal supplied by the line in the past two games.

Later in the period, defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen was reprimanded with a five-minute major for interference and game misconduct after colliding with Koivu in the offensive zone. Koivu suffered a cut above his lip, but he remained in the game.

And on the ensuring power play, Niederreiter capitalized again – this time, burying a loose puck after it kicked out to the back post at 13:53. The Wild finished 1-for-3 with the man advantage; the Sabres went 0-for-3.

Niederreiter finished off the hat trick only 4:02 into the second, sliding the puck by Lehner to become the fourth player in franchise history to record multiple hat tricks; both have come against the Sabres.

What made the accomplishment even more meaningful was TV cameras caught Niederreiter’s parents in the seats watching the action in person.

His line continued to contribute, as a knuckle puck from Koivu fooled Lehner at 13:07 for his third-point of the game. Granlund notched his third assist on the sequence, the first three-assist performance of his career.

With 45 seconds left in the period, center Charlie Coyle finished off a pass from winger Zach Parise to put the Wild up by six. It was Coyle’s second goal in as many games following a 12-game drought, and Parise notched his first point of the season in just his second game back following back surgery.

Lehner was replaced to start the third period, exiting after making just 11 stops on 17 shots. Chad Johnson replaced him and posted 10 saves, while Devan Dubnyk turned aside 29 pucks for the Wild.

Dubnyk’s shutout bid was snuffed out early in the third for the second straight game, with center Sam Reinhart getting on the end of a bouncing puck 1:54 into the period before winger Evander Kane put back a bounce off the boards with 1:01 to go.

This put the Wild at 22-16-3, with 47 points, through the first 41 games of the season.