StaTuesday: Wild forward Fiala’s February to remember

Kevin Fiala is putting together a hot streak to remember.

Heading into Tuesday night’s matchup against Nashville, his former team, the Minnesota Wild’s 23-year-old forward has scored a goal and tallied multiple points in four straight contests.

Kevin Fiala with the highlight reel goal ???#mnwild pic.twitter.com/VnEh7VomyO

— FOX Sports North (@fsnorth) February 28, 2020

Fiala’s goal against Washington on Sunday brought him to 49 points on the season, setting a new career high and besting his 2017-18 campaign when he posted 48 points for the Predators. That 48-point season he logged as a 21-year-old — his first full campaign in the NHL — was a big reason why then-general manager Paul Fenton traded Mikael Granlund to Nashville for Fiala.

Well, now that bar has been reset.

In 14 games during the month of February, Fiala racked up 10 goals, nine assists and 54 shots. He’s up to 20 goals — just three shy of a career-high 23 back in that same 2017-18 campaign — and 29 assists on the season. Fiala finished the month three goals short of the Wild’s franchise record for goals in February (13).

If Fiala can keep things rolling, he could rewrite that record book.

Minnesota’s longest goal streak by any player in team history is six games, the mark set by Brian Rolston in 2008 (Jan. 21-Feb. 5) and matched nine years later in 2017 by forward Nino Niederreiter, who lit the lamp seven times during his six-game streak.

Fiala would have to find the back of the net against Nashville (Tuesday), at San Jose (Thursday) and at Los Angeles (Saturday) to etch his name in Wild history.

Streaks aside, Fiala’s recent play has propelled the Wild back into the playoff race. Minnesota has won five of its last seven games and finds itself one point out of a wild-card spot behind the Predators.

The Wild’s playoff odds have increased to 48% on hockey-reference.com and 41% on The Athletic’s postseason and standings projections.