By Dave Campbell
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Alex Pietrangelo scored at 1:53 of overtime, giving the Vegas Golden Knights a 3-2 victory after another late rally by the Minnesota Wild.
Alex Tuch, the Wild’s first-round draft pick in 2014, set up Pietrangelo with a pass across the slot that helped the West Division-leading Golden Knights loosen the race a little and win for the first time in four games at Minnesota this season.
Goalie Marc-Andre Fleury made 26 saves and took over sole possession of the No. 3 spot on the NHL’s career wins list with No. 490.
Chandler Stephenson had a second-period goal and Reilly Smith had the tying score with 4:16 remaining in regulation for Vegas, after Kirill Kaprizov scored two goals in a 2:10 span for the Wild.
The Golden Knights (37-13-2) stretched their lead over the third-place Wild (33-14-5) to five points, with Colorado in between.
The first three spots in the playoffs in the West Division have long been clinched, but the order has stayed up for grabs with the final week of the schedule approaching. The Golden Knights and the Wild have four games remaining, and the Avalanche have five games left after playing later Wednesday at San Jose.
Minnesota finished 5-1-2 against Vegas this season.
Second-leading scorer Kevin Fiala was a surprise scratch due to a lower-body injury, and the Wild didn’t have the same jump as two nights ago until coming to life down the stretch. Jared Spurgeon’s shot early in the third period pinged off the post, and the pressure kept coming at Fleury down the stretch.
Roughed up earlier by an opponent desperate to take the Russian rookie off his multi-skilled game, Kaprizov topped himself yet again with another resume builder for the Calder Trophy. After muscling his way behind and around the net, he knocked an airborne pass into the net with 8:47 remaining in regulation. With 6:37 left, Kaprizov spun around after snagging a puck that leaked away from a faceoff and snapped a shot past Fleury for the short-lived lead.
Cam Talbot made 31 saves for the Wild. After giving up five goals over the first two periods on Monday, he stopped all 11 shots against him in the third period of that game.
HEATING UP
The Wild stormed back to win 6-5 on Monday with three goals in the third period, including two in the final 92 seconds. The atmosphere in the arena felt a little like the playoffs despite the distanced and limited crowd per virus restrictions.
The other side of such intensity is the natural agitation between the two teams, and the first period of this game was, well, a bloody mess.
There were a combined 30 penalty minutes issued. Golden Knights defensemen Zach Whitecloud and Nicolas Hague were seen bleeding after tussles on the ice, as was Wild forward Ryan Hartman.
After Whitecloud was in a scrum with Kaprizov, Marcus Foligno was so moved to stand up for his teammate he engaged in a furious fight with Hague.
BANGED UP
Golden Knights leading scorer Max Pacioretty missed his second straight game with an undisclosed injury, and fellow LW Tomas Nosek was out for the fifth consecutive game.
This was only Fiala’s second injury absence of the season. He missed three games earlier for a league-issued suspension. Marcus Johansson returned at RW for the Wild after being sidelined for two games for an upper-body injury.
UP NEXT
Golden Knights: Return home to face St. Louis on Friday and Saturday.
Wild: Finish their seven-game homestand by hosting Anaheim on Friday and Saturday.
*Associated Press
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