Playing their third road game in the past four nights on Tuesday, the Minnesota Wild at times looked like a team running on fumes. Then, they would get a boost of energy and refuse to fly back to Minnesota without a fight.

In the end, the Wild held an early lead, rallied to tie in the second and third periods but couldn’t finish off a sweep of their three-game road trip.

Cole Caufield scored with 15 seconds left in the third for the Montreal Canadiens, lifting them to a 4-3 win.

Vladimir Tarasenko scored twice and Brock Faber got a goal for Minnesota, which comes home for its next four games in St. Paul. The Wild got 29 saves from Jesper Wallstedt in the loss.

The Wild looked discombobulated early and their hosts pounced, outshooting Minnesota 7-1 before the first period was half over.

The tide turned, briefly, when Faber was tripped, and Minnesota needed just 15 seconds of man advantage to take the lead. It was the fourth goal of the three-game road trip for Tarasenko and the 32nd time the Wild had scored first this season, which is tied with Washington for tops in the NHL.

Minnesota Wild’s Vladimir Tarasenko (91) celebrates his goal over the Montreal Canadiens during the first period of an NHL hockey game in Montreal, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026. (Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press via AP)

But the Canadiens didn’t let it get them down, forging a tie on Phillip Danault’s first goal of the season, then treading a long range shot by Alexandre Carrier through a crowd in the final minute of the first to lead 2-1 after the first. Montreal outshot Minnesota 15-2 in the opening 20 minutes.

The middle frame wake-up call came at the right time for the Wild, who tied the score when a Faber shot from long range slipped through a screen provided by Vinnie Hinostroza at the net front. But the momentum disappeared quickly, as the Canadiens went up 3-2 on a goal by Lane Hutson barely two minutes after Faber’s tying goal to lead after two periods.

The Wild’s golden chance came with eight minutes left in the third, as consecutive penalties on the Habs gave Minnesota 45 seconds of a 5-on-3 power play. The Wild called a timeout to rest their top man-advantage unit, and Tarasenko squeezed in a shot from the goal line to knot the game once again.

Former Ohio State standout goalie Jakub Dobes had 16 saves for Montreal, which makes its lone trip to Minnesota this season on Feb. 2.

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The Gophers men’s basketball team forced overtime for the second time in two weeks, but again fell short in the extra five minutes on Tuesday.

After losing 70-69 in OT to Southern Cal at home on Jan. 9, Minnesota dropped another one, 82-74 to Ohio State at Schottenstein Center in Columbus, Ohio.

The opening 40 minutes was nip and tuck with 18 lead changes and 11 ties, but the Buckeyes controlled it in overtime, outscoring shorthanded Minnesota 15-7.

“The good news is we are right there,” head coach Niko Medved said in the KTLK-AM postgame show. “… But now we have had a few of these and we got to find a way to come out the other side.”

Minnesota (10-9, 3-5) has now lost four straight games, including the loss on a buzzer-beater to Wisconsin at home last Tuesday. Ohio State (13-5, 5-3 Big Ten) was barely able to cover as a seven-point home favorite.

Senior guard Bruce Thornton, who was third in the conference at 20.5 points per game, had a three-point play to give the Buckeyes a 67-65 lead with 54 seconds left. Thornton then had six points in overtime to give the veteran 23 in the game., while John Mobley Jr., led the Buckeyes with 26.

Jaylen Crocker-Johnson scored 20-plus points for a third straight game and finished with a career-high 26. Struggling to shoot from deep, Crocker-Johnson instead drove to the basket with regularity in the second half.

Already down two injured starters, wing Cade Tyson fouled out with three minutes left in overtime. He finished with 15 points.

At the end of regulation, Langston Reynolds and Tyson had great looks on the final possession, but Reynolds couldn’t convert at the rim, while Tyson was off on a corner 3-pointer. There might have been a uncalled goaltending against the Buckeyes on the final possession.

“I have not see the play,” Medved said on the radio. “My staff told me we had it point-blank at the rim. It’s too bad. It would have been an incredible way to win the game, walk-off with a win here. But we didn’t. At the end of the day we just couldn’t quite come up with a couple of stops that we needed.”

The Buckeyes out-rebounded the Gophers 42-31 and made eight more field goals.

The Gophers fell behind 10-0 and missed their opening nine shots, but worked their way to the free-throw line and broke out of their drought from the field to take a 16-12 lead with 11 minutes left in the first half.

The rest of the half was back and fourth and then stagnant with both teams missing a combined 10 shots, including eight threes over a four-minute stretch. Thornton ended the unsightly stretch with a late bucket for a 31-28 lead at the break.

Two separate fires Monday left three people dead in Minnesota, authorities said.

West of the Twin Cities in Litchfield,  two bodies were found inside what was left of a residence after a fire early Monday.

According to the Litchfield Police Department, the victims were identified as Gregri Johnson and Barbara Johnson, both 73.

Firefighters responded to a house fire reported at 2:15 a.m. in the 400 block of South Austin Avenue. The residence and attached garage were deemed a total loss after firefighters doused the flames.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

In St. Louis County, authorities discovered a body after a Monday afternoon fire destroyed a building near Island Lake, some 12 miles north of Duluth.

A pole building was reported to be on fire in the 6700 block of Rice Lake Road around 1 p.m., the St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office said.

As emergency crews arrived, the structure was engulfed in flames and “rescue efforts were not possible due to the extreme fire conditions,” according to a news release. Crews were able to fully extinguish the flames by 4:30 p.m.

It was initially believed that a missing person may have been inside the building, the sheriff’s office reported. Around 8:30 p.m., investigators found the body of a 75-year-old Duluth man, Neil Gordon Hendrickson.

Authorities said Tuesday they believe the blaze was accidentally caused by Hendrickson’s use of a grinder and blowtorch to work on a vehicle, though the investigation is continuing.

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By JULIE CARR SMYTH

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The individual charged in connection with the vandalism of Vice President JD Vance’s Ohio home earlier this month pleaded not guilty on Tuesday.

William D. DeFoor, 26, entered pleas to three counts in federal court in Cincinnati. Prosecutors have charged DeFoor with damaging government property, engaging in physical violence against any person or property in a restricted building or grounds, and assaulting, resisting or impeding federal officers.

This undated booking photo provided by the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office in January 2025 shows William D. DeFoor, who was charged on Monday, Jan. 5, 2026, in a case involving vandalism to the Cincinnati, Ohio, home of Vice President JD Vance. (Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office via AP)

The suspect faces up to 10 years in prison on each of the first two charges and up to 20 years on the third.

Federal prosecutors allege the Secret Service saw someone run along the front fence of Vance’s residence in Cincinnati’s upscale East Walnut Hills neighborhood just after midnight on Jan. 5 and then breach the property line. The person later identified as DeFoor was armed with a hammer and tried to break out the window of an unmarked Secret Service vehicle on the way up the driveway. The person then moved toward the front of the home and broke 14 historic window panes, according to a federal affidavit.

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Damage done to security enhancements around the windows was valued at $28,000, according to the filing.

DeFoor’s attorney, Paul Laufman, has said in court that the situation represents “purely a mental health issue” and that his client was not motivated by politics.