They could land a playoff spot Sunday if Calgary loses, or they could secure it themselves Tuesday by getting a point against Anaheim.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
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VANCOUVER, British Columbia – The Wild still haven’t clinched a playoff spot, but they’re getting closer.
Their 3-2 overtime rally over the Canucks on Saturday night at Rogers Arena lifted them to 95 points, one ahead of the Blues and five in front of the Flames in the battle for the two Western Conference wild cards.
They’ll extend their season if Calgary loses Sunday to San Jose; if that doesn’t happen, the Wild will lock up a berth with only a point in their regular-season finale Tuesday vs. the Ducks at Xcel Energy Center.
Mats Zucarello broke a 2-2 tie 2 minutes, 47 seconds into overtime to polish off a late comeback by the Wild.
After Brock Faber finally solved goalie Kevin Lankinen only 22 seconds into the third period when he skated into the slot to bury a Matt Boldy rebound, Marcus Foligno delivered the equalizer with 6:46 to go in the period on a crease-crashing redirect.
Like the previous night, when captain Jared Spurgeon left in the second period, returned for the third but didn’t finish the game after taking a puck to the throat, the Wild were down a defenseman for a stretch. This time, Declan Chisholm exited in the second period after he was hit by Marcus Pettersson and went crashing into the boards back-first. Chisholm, however, was back in the third.
Pettersson was also responsible for Vancouver’s first goal, capitalizing 3:11 into the first on a pinching shot.
Spurgeon didn’t play vs. the Canucks, with Wild coach John Hynes mentioning Spurgeon is “OK” and “up and around,” but “he’s just not feeling great.”
The Canucks went 1-for-2 on the power play, doubling their lead at 13:08 of the second when Jake DeBrusk tipped in a Nils Hoglander shot.
But the Wild took over in the third.
After his goal, Faber put another puck in shortly after, but the whistle had gone so the shot didn’t count despite Lankinen never having complete control.
The Wild finished without Yakov Trenin, who was ejected after his fight with Derek Forbort; Trenin punched Forbort as Forbort was down on the ice.
Filip Gustavsson made 12 saves in a second straight start.
The Wild have split their back-to-backs between their goaltenders, but considering the circumstances, they pulled Gustavsson after the Flames’ fourth goal in the third period Friday and went back to him Saturday — what could have been Fleury’s game, potentially the last of his NHL career.
“He understands the situation,” Wild coach John Hynes said. “Obviously, he knew when we took Gus out [Friday] night what the situation was going to be, and I give him credit. He was great. He popped in. He made a couple saves for us. It was nice to see. He’s the ultimate team guy.”
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