StaTuesday: Wild's Parise closing in on state NHL scoring record
After a lengthy scoring drought that saw him strike just twice in 20 games, Zach Parise is back to terrorizing opposing goaltenders.
The Minneapolis native leads the Minnesota Wild in scoring with 24 goals after netting a first-period hat trick against Calgary, before scoring twice during a crucial win over Colorado to earn NHL First Star honors for the week of March 21.
He's been scoring since day one, literally.
The former Shattuck-St. Mary's star netted a hat trick in his college debut for the University of North Dakota back in 2002, before scoring in his lockout-delayed NHL debut, a 5-1 win for the New Jersey Devils in 2005.
Parise hasn't looked back, topping the 30-goal mark six times and netting at least 20 goals eight times over the course of his 11 NHL seasons.
And while he hasn't cracked the 40-goal club since 2009, Parise is already one of the highest-scoring Minnesotans in league history despite missing most of the 2010-11 season after tearing the meniscus in his right knee.
Parise recently passed former North Stars center Neal Broten on the all-time scoring list, and surged past Cloquet-born winger Jamie Langenbrunner last year to take sole possession of third place amongst all Minnesota-born NHLers.
MINNESOTA'S ALL-TIME NHL GOALS LIST
At 31 years old Parise is already just 42 goals short of Warroad-born Olympian Dave Christian's state record, a mark that he is on pace to break in 2017.
Unless Parise starts dishing the puck more than he shoots it (which seems unlikely with a career shooting percentage of 11.4) he won't be catching Minnesotan assists leader Phil Housley any time soon, while the Hall of Famer's 1,232 career points are a distant record unless he has another decade left in the tank.
MINNESOTA'S ALL-TIME NHL POINTS LIST
Parise is under contract with the Wild through 2025, giving him plenty of time to continue his climb.
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