<i>Vegas Golden Knights center Ivan Barbashev (49) celebrates with teammates after he puts the puck past Minnesota Wild goaltender Filip Gustavsson (32) during 1st OT in game four of the first round of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Xcel Energy Center on April 26, 2025. <b>Photo Credit: Bruce Fedyck-Imagn ImagesB</b></i> [https://deweb-519a7.b-cdn.net/post-images/60f5444b-487e-4dd8-be88-92797b4103b0.jpeg] <i>Vegas Golden Knights center Ivan Barbashev (49) celebrates with teammates after he puts the puck past Minnesota Wild goaltender Filip Gustavsson (32) during 1st OT in game four of the first round of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Xcel Energy Center on April 26, 2025. <b>Photo Credit: Bruce Fedyck-Imagn ImagesB</b></i> The Minnesota Wild were the only NHL team to carry an undefeated record into the third period when leading after two. They're headed back to Vegas [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/vegas-golden-knights] with a blemish tarnishing that record, as the Golden Knights overcame a one-goal deficit and won 4-3 in overtime to tie their best-of-seven series, 2-2, with the Wild [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/minnesota-wild], who are now 29-1-0 when leading after 40 minutes of play. Two-time Stanley Cup champion Ivan Barbashev scored at 17:26 of overtime, his first goal of the series. Nicolas Roy and Tomas Hertl each had a goal and an assist, while Shea Theodore also scored for the Pacific Division champion Golden Knights. Adin Hill made 29 saves, including 10 in overtime. Marco Rossi, Marcus Foligno and Jared Spurgeon scored for Minnesota. Filip Gustavsson made 42 saves. The series is now a best-of-three with the Golden Knights regaining home-ice advantage, with Game 5 scheduled for Vegas on Tuesday, and Game 6 back in St. Paul on Thursday. Vegas won Games 1 and 4, while the Wild took Games 2 and 3. Heading into Saturday's game, the Wild were the only wild-card team leading an opening-round series. After Reilly Smith took advantage of a turnover, and flipped the puck toward the crease, Roy's centering attempt deflected off Wild defenseman Jake Middleton and Barbashev was there to punch home the game-winner. "Our game was very similar to the last two," Smith said. "Finally got some bounces tonight. I think we just got to keep our foot on the gas and force them to make bad plays, just like what happened in overtime." Here are three takeaways from the game: KILLER PENALTY KILL: Roy took a holding penalty against Joel Eriksson Ek midway through the overtime period, swinging potential momentum in Minnesota's favor. But the Golden Knights did a good job of limiting Minnesota to just one shot during its man advantage. The Wild missed two of their shots, and had two others blocked by Vegas' William Karlsson and another by a teammate. The Golden Knights rank seventh in the postseason with their penalty kill (75%). while the Wild sit 13th with a 63.6% clip. LINE BLENDER: Coach Bruce Cassidy put 10 different forward lines on the ice in Game 4, including a major change in putting Jack Eichel with Pavel Dorofeyev and Karlsson for 6:52 - the longest time-on-ice for any of Vegas' lines at full strength. Finally being able to use his depth, Cassidy's bunch appeared to have fresher legs with time winding down than the Wild. "We were on top of them, and we were kind of limiting their chances," Theodore said. "I liked the energy from our group. I thought we played good hockey. We were getting pucks to the net. I felt like we were getting a couple more bounces. And it's good to see some goals going." EYE OF STONE: Captain Mark Stone took a stick to the eye from rookie Zeev Buium, who made his NHL debut in Game 1, and was forced to leave the game temporarily with blood streaming down his face a little more than a minute into the third period. The Golden Knights got a four-minute power play out of the double-minor and took advantage with Roy scoring his first goal of the postseason. Stone returned later in the period.
