Nothing comes easy for the Minnesota Wild this season.
On Tuesday they were 0.3 seconds away from a regulation win, only to be struck by outrageous fortune.
In the end, they got an overtime goal from Marcus Johansson to beat the Nashville Predators, 3-2, and post their first two-game winning streak of the season. But not before Nashville forced overtime in literally the final second of regulation in St. Paul.
On the overtime winner, Johansson was open in front of the Nashville net when Predators goalie Justus Annunen dislodged the net before Johansson could shoot. Referees declared it a goal, and upheld the call after a review.
Before that, power play goals by Kirill Kaprizov and Zeev Buium helped the Wild overcome some long stretches where Nashville was the clear aggressor, as Minnesota improved to 5-6-3 overall and 2-0 in November after a messy opening month.
Filip Gustavsson finished with 32 saves for the Wild and is now 4-6-1 in his 11 starts this season.
Minnesota got the game’s first power play, barely two minutes into the game, but could not muster a shot on goal.
The Predators’ penalty kill had the best scoring chance while they were down a man, as Johansson’s turnover sprung Nashville winger Ozzy Wiesblatt on a breakaway from the blue line. But his low shot hit the goalpost.
The Wild’s second power play, near the midway point of the first, went much better. When the Predators left the middle of the offensive zone open for Kaprizov, he took a stride toward the net, then zipped a shot through a screen in front of Annunen. It was Kaprizov’s team-leading eighth goal of the season, and his third in the past four games.
The Wild’s improving penalty kill negated the team’s first trip to the penalty box early in the second period, only to see Nashville tie it up when the teams were back to five-on-five.
Matthew Wood, who averaged a point per game last season for the Gophers, found himself all alone in front of Gustavsson and got a tap-in for his third NHL goal. It was also Wood’s third goal in the past four games.
Nashville dominated the period for 15 minutes, drawing some boos from the home crowd, as the Wild looked off-kilter and needed Gustavsson to hold them in the game with 13 saves in the middle frame.
But a Predators penalty late in the second opened the door for the Wild to grab momentum, and they did with eight seconds left in the power play. This time it was Buium redirecting a feed from Brock Faber as Minnesota led for the second time.
Johansson had the secondary assist on Buium’s goal, giving him a career-best six-game point streak. Nashville outshot the Wild 14-4 in the second period.
With Annunen on the bench for an extra attacker and just seconds remaining, Joel Eriksson Ek’s clearing attempt hit the referee and stayed in the zone, setting up a last-second slap shot by Stamkos to tie the game.
Annunen finished with 21 saves for Nashville.
It was the second night of back-to-back games for the Predators, who had a 5-4 overtime loss to Vancouver on Monday night in Nashville. The Wild and Predators will play three more times this season, with their next meeting coming on Dec. 23 at Grand Casino Arena.
After posting a 2-2-2 record in their now-concluded six-game homestand, the Wild head east for a pair of road games. They pay their only visit of the season to the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday and to the New York Islanders on Friday.
Briefly
As a part of their on-going 25th anniversary celebration, the Wild honored three of their best-known puck-stoppers with former goalies Niklas Backstrom, Devan Dubnyk and Josh Harding conducting the ceremonial first faceoff before the game. Dubnyk and Harding have both made Minnesota their home in retirement, with the latter serving as the goalie coach at Edina High School.
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