ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Wild has not only matched up well against but defeated some of the NHL's best teams.
Except the Panthers.
They stumped the Wild for the second time this season, running away for a 6-2 victory on Friday in front of 18,300 at Xcel Energy Center to snap the Wild's six-game win streak at home.
This is also the first time the team has dropped two in a row overall since a five-game skid Dec. 11-Jan. 1.
Florida's Mason Marchment scored a hat trick, Jonathan Huberdeau registered his league-leading 51st assist, and goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky pocketed 24 saves.
Mats Zuccarello and Kirill Kaprizov each had a goal and assist for the Wild, with Kaprizov's 50th career tally coming in his 100th game.
That finish hinted at a promising start for the Wild since Kaprizov capitalized on the power play 7 minutes, 7 seconds into the first period when he posted up along the goal line and directed in a slap pass by captain Jared Spurgeon.
His team-leading 23rd goal of the season extended his point streak to four games, and Kaprizov has 29 points in his last 17. The winger also became the first NHLer to eclipse 110 points through his first 100 games since Pittsburgh's Evgeni Malkin had 114 in 2006-07; Kaprizov is at 112 points.
And among players who debuted since 1991-92, Kaprizov is just the seventh to record at least 50 goals by his 100th appearance. The others are Teemu Selanne (84), Eric Lindros (67), Alex Ovechkin (64), Pavel Bure (64), Auston Matthews (52) and Ilya Kovalchuk (50).
As for Spurgeon, his assist was his fourth over his past three games with three of those coming on the power play.
But the Wild didn't hold that lead for long, not when the Panthers flipped a one-goal deficit into a one-goal advantage in a breezy 2:27 on three shots.
Marchment jammed in his own rebound at 10:02 before finishing off a backhand pass from Anton Lundell at 12:29.
By 8:38 of the second, Florida was ahead 3-1 after Huberdeau passed off to Anthony Duclair for a one-timer and then 1:41 into the third period, Aaron Ekblad crept in from the point to wire in a shot on the power play. He and Duclair each finished with a goal and assist, while Huberdeau assisted on two goals. The Panthers went 1 for 3 on the power play.
Despite falling short, 5-4, in its previous meeting against the Panthers Nov. 20, the Wild tested Florida late with two goals in the final minute of regulation.
"They just didn't go away," said Panthers interim coach and former Wild player Andrew Brunettte. "Kind of how they are all year. We felt we did everything we wanted to do, and they still were right on your heels That's kind of been the story of the season."
The Wild made a similar push in the rematch but still dipped to 18-4-1 when scoring first.
After Ryan Hartman leveled Duclair with a check, the Panthers retaliated to put the Wild on the power play and the unit converted for the second time in five chances when Kaprizov set up Zuccarello at 9:42.
This was the third straight multi-point game for Kaprizov and Zuccarello, who has 10 over his last 13. The goal also boosted Zuccarello to 50 points for the first time since 2017-18. He's up to eight points during a four-game point streak.
Amid that momentum, the Wild pulled goalie Cam Talbot but Florida nixed the rally with an empty-net goal from Carter Verhaeghe at 13:18 before Marchment completed the second straight hat trick against the Wild also into an empty net 1:15 later.
Talbot had 28 saves after he was also in net for the 6-3 loss at Winnipeg on Wednesday.
