Spurgeon’s OT winner keeps Wild rolling
Jared Spurgeon scored 58 seconds into overtime as the Minnesota Wild mounted another rally to win for the fifth time in their past seven outings, downing the struggling Nashville Predators 3-2 on Saturday at Xcel Energy Center.
Trailing by a goal in the second period, the Wild got a power play goal by Kirill Kaprizov to even the score. He also set up Spurgeon’s winner early in the three-on-three extra session. Goalie Filip Gustavsson had 25 saves for a Minnesota team that has now won three in a row after a loss to division-leading Winnipeg to start the holiday week.
It was the third goal of the season, and the third in the past two days, for Spurgeon, the team captain.
Just 63 seconds remained in the opening period when Declan Chisholm uncorked a blast from the blue line that ricocheted off the post and past Nashville goalie Juuse Saros for a 1-0 lead. It was the first goal since April of last season for Chisholm.
But the Predators refused to go quietly into the first intermission, and evened the score with just over 20 seconds left on Fedor Svechkov’s first of the season.
The other first-period crowd-pleaser was Marcus Foligno, who showed off his appetite for the physical side of the game with an early fight versus Nashville defenseman Luke Schenn, and by dropping top-liner Filip Forsberg with an open-ice hit at center ice later in the opening 20 minutes.
With Yakov Trenin in the penalty box for tripping Saros early in the second, Ryan O’Reilly tipped a shot past Gustavsson to give Nashville its first lead. But the Wild answered on a power play of their own, with Kaprizov tipping a Marco Rossi shot past Saros for the Russian’s team-leading 15th goal of the season.
The power-play goal by Kaprizov was the 61st of his career, moving him past Mikko Koivu and into second place in the franchise’s record books. He needs eight more man advantage goals to eclipse the team record, currently held by Zach Parise.
Saros finished with 25 saves for the Predators, who started the season 0-5-0 and have struggled to find their footing, despite the high profile summer acquisitions of players like Steven Stamkos, Jonathan Marchessault and Brady Skjei.
For the second consecutive day, former Gophers standout Travis Boyd warmed up but did not crack the lineup and is still waiting to make his Wild debut in a home game.
For Chisholm, his first goal of the season came after his offense had been steadily building this week. He recorded a season-high four shots on goal during Wednesday’s 1-0 win in Buffalo, and had three more shots on Friday as the Wild rallied to beat Chicago 3-2 at home.
Much of Saturday’s game was conducted with only three on-ice officials after lineman CJ Murray left the rink in the first period with a back injury. The Wild conclude their three-game homestand on Tuesday with the Vancouver Canucks’ only visit of the season to St. Paul.
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