To pull the goalie in overtime is a nuts decision but it worked out for the Wild tonight.
ST. PAUL - These two teams don't like each other, it's pretty obvious. The Wild had a few chances during the season to catch up to the Nashville Predators in the standings but failed to do just that.
Not only did they fail to do that, they lost 6-1 in Nashville.
"It's a Central Division game. We don't like playing these guys. There's some bad blood from last game, McCarron punching Zuccarello on the bench," Marcus Foligno said. "Stuff like that's gotta be not let go. They're a team that answers the bell, just like we do. I think you need animosity in the game. The fans were awesome tonight. They were unbelievable. I think it's what we need. We're not out of this, and we want our fans to know that that's how we feel in here."
The Wild (30-27-7) have played the last couple of games without Jake Middleton, Pat Maroon, Brandon Duhaime, and even Foligno for a couple of games. Foligno played in Colorado and played tonight.
But during those games, it felt like the Wild were being pushed around a bit. Some of the opponent's depth guys were taking runs at the Wild's star players because they knew the Wild didn't have anyone to step up for them.
"You get guys that play a little bit bigger when certain guys are out. It is what it is. You want to have your teammates' backs," Foligno said on his team being pushed around in the last couple of games. "It just felt like last game we got abused a little bit."
Foligno put an end to that today after dropping the gloves with Nashville's Michael McCarron in the first three minutes of the game.
Jonas Brodin followed that up with a goal just 19 seconds later. Foligno was pretty amped up after the fight. He skated hard to the box and yelled before stepping in. Meanwhile, McCarron went down the tunnel to get worked on.
The fight sparked the Wild. You could tell they were playing a little different.
Brodin's goal came on a rugby-type scrum in front of the net with bodies all over the place. Brodin walked in and picked up the loose puck before depositing it over Juuse Saros' shoulder to give the Wild a 1-0.
About six minutes later, Mason Shaw dropped the gloves with Nashville's Kiefer Sherwood. The two headed for the box after. It was the second fight in the first nine minutes of the game.
The fight came after Sherwood set up Mark Jankowski for the game-tying goal.
Luke Evangelista gave the Predators their first lead of the game in the second period with an early goal with about three minutes into the period. It came on a pretty lucky bounce in front of Marc-Andre Fleury but it gave the Predators a 2-1 lead.
Kirill Kaprizov ended up tying the game late in the second after another mad scramble in front of Saros. The Wild threw four shots on net before Kaprizov came darting in to tap in the loose puck which tied the game at 2-2.
In the third period, Ryan Hartman picked off a pass from Nashville's Anthony Beauvillier in the middle of the ice and eventually came in on a breakaway and scored to give the Wild the lead.
"Yeah, I saw him kind of look across the ice and kind of load up to make a pass," Hartman said on his goal. "Kind of jumped on it and Saros’ angle was a little to his left so I decided I’d try to go back in and try to wait him out."
The Predators scored with about two minutes left in the third period on the power play to tie it. This forced overtime.
Nashville seemed to have all the momentum in overtime. The Wild were chasing the puck all throughout overtime but once they got possession of it they decided to do something crazy.
John Hynes called Fleury off the ice for the extra attacker. There was no delayed penalty or anything. A tied game in overtime and Hynes called for Fleury to come off. If the Predators were to score with the empty net the Wild would have gotten zero points out of the game.
"No, I did not know that," Matt Boldy said on the rule. "Good thing we scored."
You always get a point if you go to overtime and lose but because the goalie was pulled, the Wild would have received zero points if the Predators scored into the empty net.
The Wild need two points more than they need one point. They are in a spot where they need to pile up as many points as they can.
So it was a risky decision but the Wild needed to do something like that.
"Yeah, for sure," Hynes said when asked if he knew the rule. "I mean, one point, … we need two points. We feel like we were organized with it, the players knew what was going on. And I think it's when you put the four guys we have on the ice that we believe that it gives us the best chance to score a goal and get two points and that's what we're here for."
Fleury has been playing in the NHL since 2003 but doesn't recall anything like this happening.
“I don’t know honestly. I don’t know what I had for breakfast," Fleury said. "So, tough to remember all these years, right? I’ll remember this one. I think it was such a great feeling, great ending to the game.”
The decision to pull the goalie in overtime worked. Boldy fired a shot past Saros to win the Wild the game just about 20 seconds after Fleury got to the bench for the extra attacker.
"Yeah, I think it's something, as I said, we've talked about it," Hynes said. "I think the timing of it is important and the rotations of the players that go through, and tonight, it worked out for us. But we want to be aggressive. We want to win, and as I said, one point, zero point, it's not doing us any good. Two points is what we need."
As for the other side?
"Yeah, no, I think they were at the moment where they had to do it," Predators coach Andrew Brunette said. "It was a great call. They made a great play."
Make sure you bookmark The Hockey News' Minnesota Wild page for the latest news, exclusive interviews, breakdowns and so much more.