ST. PAUL — The Minnesota Wild had a 1-0 lead over the Vegas Golden Knights for almost 54 minutes Saturday afternoon.
The Wild left the game with nothing.
“Disappointing,” Filip Gustavsson said.
“A bummer,” Jake Middleton said.
With the Wild fighting for their lives in the Western Conference wild-card race, they pulled Gustavsson inside the final two minutes of overtime for an extra attacker just like they did 21 days ago against the Nashville Predators.
But, unlike that game where they won 4-3, the decision backfired as the Wild fell 2-1 to Vegas at Xcel Energy Center.
Logan Thompson (32 saves) stopped Mats Zuccarello's shot from the left circle, and Jonathan Marchessault sent the puck from inside his own blue line down the ice at an empty net to win the game, extend the Golden Knights’ point streak to six games and become just the second player in Vegas' seven-season history to have a 40-goal season.
Only William Karlsson, who scored 43 goals in the Golden Knights' inaugural season in 2017-18, had accomplished that feat before Marchessault did.
“That's the position we’re in, and it worked for us the first time,” Middleton said of pulling Gustavsson.
“It didn’t work for us this time. We put ourselves in a position where something like that needs to be done.”
The Wild were left with nothing because if you pull your goalie in overtime and get scored on, you forfeit the point you earned for getting past regulation.
But one point isn’t enough for the Wild anymore. As Gustavsson said postgame, “It was all or nothing.”
“Where we’re at in the standings and where it goes, you're trying to put your team in the best position to win the hockey game,” Wild coach John Hynes said. “And, in our opinion, putting (Kirill) Kaprizov, Zuccarello, (Joel Eriksson) Ek and (Matt) Boldy against three players on the ice gives us the best chance to win a game. And these aren't random decisions, (and) I would put those guys back on the ice again...
“When you look at our situation, we have to win games and get two points, and we have to get help from other teams. So, the decision was made to give the team the best chance to win the hockey game.”
The Wild sit eight points outside of the playoff picture with nine games left. If the L.A. Kings win against the Calgary Flames later tonight, Minnesota will be 10 points behind L.A. The Wild aren't mathematically eliminated yet, but it's going to take a miracle for them to sneak into the postseason after this loss.
The Wild — led by Gustavsson's 29 saves Saturday afternoon — shouldn't have had to make that decision in overtime in the first place, though, because they had the lead until the end. But they couldn't preserve it in what ended up becoming their seventh blown third-period lead at home since Dec. 31 for an astonishing 11 points lost in the standings.
“I don’t think tonight showed those common themes,” Middleton said. “I thought we played more aggressive than we have in those recent games when we had given up leads in the third period, and that kind of led to our demise in this game as well. But I think it was different characteristically from the other losses that we had previously in the third.”
Added Hynes: “We’re in positions to extend the lead and unfortunately we haven’t been able to do that. And then I think as it comes through when teams press, I think there’s some details and discipline in our game that need to be better when you know a team’s going to come from behind.”
Gustavsson and the Wild kept the Golden Knights off the board in the first period despite having some early penalty trouble and getting outshot 13-7. In the middle frame, the Wild took advantage of Jack Eichel's retaliatory spear on Kaprizov, which earned Vegas' star center a 5-minute major and game misconduct.
Boldy found Kaprizov, and the Wild's star winger did the rest by beating Thompson under the arm from the slot with 3:16 left in the second period.
As Middleton pointed out, the goal gave the Wild momentum, and they entered the third period with confidence — feeling good about their game.
But despite the Wild keeping the Golden Knights scoreless for almost 54 minutes and Gustavsson standing tall all game long, Vegas broke through when Michael Amadio beat the Minnesota goalie on a one-timer from the slot with 6:17 to go.
“I don’t think we took our foot off the gas or anything,” Middleton said. “I think they brought more of their game.”
Added Hynes: “It was a hard fought game. We played well. We went for it. We were aggressive. We tried to put ourselves in a position to win, (and) it didn’t work.”
With Saturday's overtime loss counting as a regulation loss, the Wild are now 7-3-3 since the bye week and All-Star break. Yet, the Wild have failed to make up any ground in the wild-card race as they get closer and closer to playoff elimination.
The Wild continue their six-game homestand against the Senators Tuesday.
*Marcus Foligno, who missed a second straight game on Saturday, isn't expected to return this season and will have season-ending surgery, according to The Athletic's Michael Russo.
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