Mats Zuccarello scored at the 3:47 mark of overtime as the Minnesota Wild rallied to beat the Vancouver Canucks 3-2 on Saturday.
Kirill Kaprizov sprung Zuccarello for a breakaway and the right-winger stickhandled his way toward the crease before wrapping a shot in around Vancouver goalie Kevin Lankinen.
The Wild (44-30-7) fell behind 2-0 midway through the second period after the Canucks (37-29-14) got goals from Marcus Pettersson and Jake DeBrusk.
Brock Faber got Minnesota on the board 22 seconds into the third with his 10th goal of the season and Marcus Foligno forced extra time by scoring midway through the final frame.
Wild netminger Filip Gustavsson stopped 12 of the 14 shots he faced and Kevin Lankinen had 30 saves for the Canucks.
It was a crucial victory for a Minnesota team that’s fighting to hang on to a playoff berth with just one game left on its regular-season schedule. The Wild remained in the first wild-card spot after Saturday’s contest, tied with the St. Louis Blues with 93 points, but just three points ahead of the Calgary Flames.
TAKEAWAYS
Canucks: The injury-riddled Canucks lost another body early in the third period when defenceman Derek Forbort was hurt during a fight with Yakov Trenin. The Minnesota forward was handed a game misconduct for punching Forbort while he lay on the ice.
Wild: It was a bounce-back game for Minnesota, which came in with losses in five of its last seven contests, including a 4-2 defeat to the Flames in Calgary on Friday.
KEY MOMENT
Capitalizing on a failed Canucks clearing attempt, Ryan Hartman dished off to Foligno and the Wild winger popped a shot in past Lankinen for his 14th goal of the season at the 14:14 mark of the third period.
KEY STAT
Hughes's assist marked his 75th point of the season. He is the seventh defenceman in NHL history to record three straight 75-point seasons and the first since Ray Borque accomplished the feat in 1993-94.
UP NEXT
Canucks: Host the San Jose Sharks on Monday.
Minnesota: Play their final game of the regular season at home against the Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday.
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