Wild tie it late, then defeat Utah Hockey Club in shootout

Sarah McLellan, The Minnesota Star Tribune on Dec 11, 2024

Published in Hockey

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SALT LAKE CITY – The Wild put their signature stamp on their inaugural trip to Utah.

Like they have all season, they rebounded from a rare regulation loss with a victory by rallying 5-4 in a shootout Tuesday night at Delta Center to complete another winning road trip.

Matt Boldy scored in the shootout after Marco Rossi delivered a last-minute equalizer in the third period to continue a back-and-forth third period in which the Wild blew not one but two leads.

Earlier, Kirill Kaprizov nabbed his team-leading 18th goal after Marat Khusnutdinov’s first off a breakaway. Filip Gustavsson, who improved to 14-4-3, finished with 21 saves.

With the win, the Wild tied their rival Winnipeg for the most points in the NHL at 42, but the Wild vaulted back into first place because they’ve played fewer games. The Wild are also a league-best 12-2-3 on the road.

As far as bounce-back games go, this one tested the Wild’s persistence.

Despite dominating the shot clock early, they had nothing to show for it while Utah eked out a 1-0 lead 13:46 into the first period on a shot from fourth-liner Kevin Stenlund after Wild defenseman Declan Chisholm broke his stick on a wind-up and Utah went the other way.

Utah didn’t challenge Gustavsson the rest of the period and had zero pucks on net during a power play that carried over to the second period.

The Wild, meanwhile, blanked on 17 first-period shots and remained off to start the second. Combine the lull with barely avoiding getting shut out by Los Angeles on Saturday in a 4-1 loss after a decisive 5-1 win at Anaheim a night earlier, and the Wild looked as if they might have sunk into their first scoring rut.

Considering who they’re missing — Jakub Lauko returned after sitting out six games with a muscle injury, but offensive leaders Joel Eriksson Ek and Mats Zuccarello are still absent along with defenseman Jonas Brodin — a dry spell wouldn’t be surprising.

But the Wild distracted from that concern by finally having the scoreboard sync up to the action on the ice.

After another Utah goal, a deflection by Dylan Guenther, was overturned by a successful Wild challenge for offside, the Wild pulled ahead.

Khusnutdinov intercepted an errant Utah pass at the blue line to skate in alone and capitalize on a breakaway with a blocker-side snapper at 14:25 for only his second NHL goal. His first came last season after he left the KHL to debut with the Wild, who drafted the Russian center in the second round in 2020.

Then two shifts later, a heave on net by Kaprizov squeaked through Utah goaltender Karel Vejmelka at 15:01.

Kaprizov, who went pointless vs. the Kings, is up to 43 points, which is tied for second in the NHL behind the 46 for Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon.

Similar to last season when the team was in Arizona before relocating to Salt Lake City, Utah is a pesky foe, and captain Clayton Keller answered back on the power play at 4:42 of the third; the Wild went 0-for-2.

Unfortunately for Utah, the Wild also stayed on brand.

Only 57 seconds later, they reclaimed the lead when Marcus Johansson polished off a scramble in front after Vejmelka (35 saves) didn’t completely cover a Rossi shot.

Penalty trouble again cost the Wild, with Keller again converting on the power play (2-for-3) at 9:54, and Juuso Valimaki parlayed that momentum into a 4-3 advantage for Utah with 8:15 to go in the third when he buried a bobbled rebound by Gustavsson.

Still, the Wild hung around and with Gustavsson pulled, Rossi wired in his 10th goal with 44 seconds remaining in the third period to extend the action.