In St Paul, the Minnesota Wild were facing an uncertain outcome on Sunday afternoon.
They were locked in a 3-3 tie with the visiting Nashville Predators, whom they are chasing for a wild card spot, in extra time.
Rather than risk the vagaries of penalties, the Wild pulled Marc-Andre Fleury for an extra skater in the session, and Matt Boldy connected with 70 seconds left in the session for a 4-3 win to the Wild.
“We need those points,” Boldy said. “Huge to get the win. I don’t think it was our best or our worst, but a lot of guys stepped up and played hard. They’re hard to play against, strong, physical, and forecheck really hard. So, to be able to get those points is huge.”
Fleury made 27 saves in the win.
Minnesota improved to 31-27-7.
“We need two points,” Wild coach John Hynes said. “We feel like we were organized with it, the players knew what was going on, and I think it’s when you put the four guys we have on the ice that we believe that it gives us the best chance to score a goal and get two points, and that’s what we’re here for.
“It’s not something that you do all the time, but I think in our position, we want to be aggressive, we want to get two points, we want to continue to fight. We believe in our group and continue to fight to play meaningful games down the stretch and let the chips fall where they may. So, I think in the situation we’re in, one point, no point, it’s not going to do us any good. We got to get two points.”
Nashville’s Ryan O’Reilly forced extra time when he scored off the power play at 17:58 of the third period to tie the game, 3-3.
“I was just kind of playing to the top and just kind of sucking them down and then trying to roll into that dangerous ice and saw the [defenseman] kind of come out, and I thought if I could get one through I’d have a chance of getting one in,” O’Reilly said. “So, just try to get around them and lucky for us, it went in.”
The Wild took a 1-0 lead in the opening stanza on a strike by Jonas Brodin 3:16, scoring off a shot from the left side.
Mark Jankowski got the Preds even, 1-1, at 9:00, scoring from below the right circle.
Nashville dropped to 37-25-4, but extended their point streak to 12 games 10-0-2.
“It was a fun hockey game,” Predators coach Andrew Brunette said. “I loved our game. I thought we deserved a little bit better, but it was a great game. I think it was entertaining. They played really hard. It was back and forth. It was everything you want in a hockey game. It was a fun one to be a part of. Would have loved the extra point, but the resiliency of our group, down one late and being able to score, I think it is building our pillars of our success here this year.”
In the middle frame,Luke Evangelista pushed the Preds into a 2-1 lead with a marker at 3:36, scoring an errant pass being deflected off a Wild defenseman.
“We were right there, we battled back,” O’Reilly said. “We were doing good things, we had some good chances, too. Fleury made some unbelievable saves when we had open nets. Juuse came up big for us, too. Like you said, it was a back-and-forth game. It was there for us and a chance. Disappointing we didn’t get the two.”
Kirill Kaprizov hit for a power play goal at 18:42 of the second for a 2-2 tie.
In the third period, the Wild’s Ryan Hartman restored the lead, 3-2, with a marker at 12:28 of the third, scoring after a steal of a pass.
“In the position we are, we really needed two points and we got a great power play,” Hartman said. “Those four guys out there, it’s hard to stop. I love that play.”
Juuse Saros made 29 saves in the loss.
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