Connor Dewar's hat trick powers Wild past Predators

Connor Dewar recorded his first career hat trick and four-point performance to fuel the visiting Minnesota Wild to a 6-1 victory over the Nashville Predators on Thursday.

Dewar, who entered the game having last tallied on Oct. 19, tapped home a loose puck to open the scoring at 6:08 of the first period. He scored with a sharp wrist shot to give Minnesota a 5-0 lead at 11:12 of the second and converted from the doorstep to cap the hat trick at 9:47 of the third.

Dewar, who has five goals on the season, nearly added his fourth tally of the game late in the third period. The Predators, however, successfully challenged that the Wild were offside upon entering the offensive zone.

Defenseman Jake Middleton and Kirill Kaprizov scored 31 seconds apart to highlight Minnesota's three-goal first period.

Pat Maroon also tallied, Kaprizov added an assist and Filip Gustavsson made 25 saves to help the Wild win their second straight game since John Hynes replaced Dean Evason as the team's coach. The win also was special for Hynes, who coached the Predators from 2019-20 to 2022-23.

Nashville's Juuso Parssinen deflected defenseman Ryan McDonagh's shot to spoil Gustavsson's shutout bid at 2:37 of the third period.

Juuse Saros yielded four goals on 15 shots before being replaced by Kevin Lankinen (14 saves) for the Predators, who saw their six-game winning streak come to a halt.

Middleton gave the Wild a 2-0 lead with 5:59 remaining in the first period after his backhand shot from the left circle handcuffed Saros. Middleton's fourth goal of the season tied his career high, set in 2021-22.

An unsuccessful coach's challenge by Nashville for an offside call put Minnesota on the power play, and the Wild made the Predators pay for that decision.

Kaprizov's sharp-angle shot just 31 seconds later from deep in the right circle slipped between Saros' pads to stake Minnesota to a 3-0 lead at 14:32 of the first Period. The goal was Kaprizov's seventh of the season and second in four games.

Maroon deflected defenseman Alex Goligoski's shot past Saros to give the Wild a 4-0 lead at 1:43 of the second period.