The subjects of the viral play on Thursday night at Grand Casino Arena were almost as surprising as the sequence itself. This wasn’t superstar defenseman Quinn Hughes delivering a perfect pass to superstar winger Kirill Kaprizov.

This was bruising defenseman Jake Middleton channeling his inner Hughes while finding reserve winger Vinnie Hinostroza.

Though he’s not exactly known for his prowess with the puck, Middleton decided to float a fluttering pass from deep in the defensive zone, which Hinostroza literally caught in stride a millisecond before entering the offensive zone.

“It was just perfect,” Hinostroza said. “I didn’t have to change my speed or anything.”

After managing to stay onside while catching the puck, Hinostroza calmly placed it down, took a few strides, then cashed in with a snipe top shelf. That goal held up as the game winner in the Wild’s 4-1 victory over the Calgary Flames.

“You’re not thinking about anything but making the play,” Hinostroza said. “I was able to do that and score a goal to help the team.”

In the immediate aftermath, Hinostroza let out a huge fist pump, then skated to Middleton along the boards to celebrate.

“I was so excited,” Hinostroza said. “I don’t remember the last time I scored.”

It had been 24 games without a goal for Hinostroza, to be exact, which slowly started to weigh on him. As much as he tried to stay positive, he admitted that he was starting to get into his own head.

“It has been a while,” he said. “Hopefully this could start something and (I) chip in a little more often.”

Asked about the beautiful setup, Middleton essentially shrugged when talking about what exactly was gong through his head in that moment, saying, “I was just trying to get it to him.”

In that same breath, Middleton credited Hinostroza with making him look good, emphasizing that the pass wouldn’t be worth talking about if it didn’t result in the Wild putting the puck in the back of the net.

“That was a great play by him,” Middleton said. “He read it well.”

The fact that Middleton even thought to try a pass like that sparked some friendly ribbing in the locker room after the game. It’s not often that his teammates see him operate with so much creativity on the ice.

“Yeah,” winger Matt Boldy said with a laugh. “I didn’t know he had that in him.”

Maybe it’s easier for Middleton than simply making a pass tape to tape.

“He practices that all the time,” goaltender Filip Gustavsson said while shaking his head. “He’s the flip master.”

There wasn’t much else to get excited about as the Wild didn’t bring their best against the Flames. Maybe it’s fitting then that the assist from Middleton and the goal from Hinostroza proved to be the difference.

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