By Dan Greenspan
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Kevin Fiala scored his second goal of the game with 59 seconds remaining in overtime and the Minnesota Wild beat the Anaheim Ducks 5-4 on Sunday night.
Alex Galchenyuk, Victor Rask and Mats Zucarello also scored, and the Wild reclaimed the first wild card in the Western Conference. Minnesota has won eight of its past 11 games and seven of eight on the road.
“You just try to battle through and find a way,” said Devan Dubnyk, who made 22 saves in his first start Feb. 23 after Alex Stalock started the previous seven games. “I’m past worrying about what people think of the goals I let in or how many goals I let in this year. I don’t care if it’s 6-5 every game as long as we’re on the right side of it, so I just try to make that last save.”
Jakob Silfverberg had two goals and an assist, Christian Djoos and Danton Heinen also scored, but the Ducks fell short of matching a season-high three-game win streak. Ryan Miller made 25 saves.
“The guys are in the games,” Ducks coach Dallas Eakins said. “They understand the points are big on the other side. We still want the points, so they are competing hard, which is great to see.”
Fiala drew a tripping penalty by Ducks defenseman Josh Manson with 1:05 remaining in overtime and needed just 6 seconds to bury a wrist shot from the left circle for his second power-play goal. It was Fiala’s seventh goal in eight games, and he has 14 goals and 12 assists in 18 games since Feb. 1.
“We’ve all known how skilled he is, and it’s just fun to see him really putting it together,” Dubnyk said. “I’ve never been as confident in a guy shooting the puck as that. He got that puck in overtime, and I was like halfway to the blue line because you know it’s going in.”
Galchenyuk was able to collect a loose puck and bury a wrist shot from the high slot with 5:40 left in the third period for a 4-3 lead, but Silfverberg found Djoos alone in the left circle for a one-timer with 1:42 to go to send it into overtime.
“We weathered the storm and the guys stuck together, but (Anaheim) played hard,” Wild interim coach Dean Evason said.
Rask tied it at 3 1:49 into the third period with a wrist shot from the high slot on a 1-on-2 break.
NOTES: It was Silfverberg’s first multigoal game this season. He has reached the 20-goal mark in four of the past five seasons. … Ducks F Rickard Rakell had three assists. … Zuccarello had not scored since Feb. 1, a 17-game scoring drought.
UP NEXT
Wild: Host the Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday night.
Ducks: Host the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday night.
*Associated Press
