ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Some puck luck finally went the Vegas Golden Knights' way and they avoided getting pushed to the brink of elimination.
Ivan Barbashev scored at 17:26 of overtime and the Golden Knights beat the Minnesota Wild 4-3 in Game 4 on Saturday to even their first-round, best-of-seven NHL playoff series.
Nicolas Roy and Tomas Hertl each had a goal and assist, and Shea Theodore also scored for the Pacific Division champion Golden Knights. Adin Hill made 29 saves.
Late in the extra period, Smith forced a Wild turnover deep in its own zone. Roy’s centring attempt that deflected off Wild defenceman Jake Middleton and Barbashev knocked in the loose puck off a scramble in front. It was his first goal of the playoffs after scoring 23 in the regular season.
“It seems like those are the bounces we weren’t quite getting the first couple of games. To have some of those go in and get some confidence from it is pretty big going forward,” Theodore said.
Vegas killed a power play earlier in the extra frame.
Marco Rossi, Marcus Foligno and Jared Spurgeon scored for Minnesota. Filip Gustavsson made 42 saves, including a pair of sprawling left pad saves off Reilly Smith’s attempts with 3:49 left in regulation.
“This is a series. They’re a heck of a team. Not going to be easy,” Foligno said. “It was a good game on both sides. This is what we expect. Best out of three going back to Vegas, and yeah, we’re in a good spot. Keep our heads up here.”
The Wild are now 0-5 all-time in Game 4 when holding a 2-1 series lead.
Game 5 is in Vegas on Tuesday, with Game 6 on Thursday back in Minnesota.
“We lost home ice, we got it back. It’s been hard fought, every inch of ice there, so that’s how I’m looking at it. Emotionally, we’re gonna enjoy it, but, tomorrow we’ll rest and then get back to work,” said Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy.
With the Golden Knights trailing 2-1 entering the third period, Roy scored off a scramble during a four-minute power play at 4:50. Vegas then took the lead midway through the period when a shot from Mark Stone deflected off Hertl, who was on the ice tangled up with Ryan Hartman.
However, Spurgeon countered 54 seconds later for Minnesota on a wraparound to tie it 3-3.
The Wild were 29-0-0 when leading after two periods in the regular season, the only team with a perfect record when holding a lead after 40 minutes of play.
“There was never a panic when they scored that goal right after we scored ours. We didn’t change our game, we stuck with it, and I think overall we were pretty good tonight,” Roy said.
Theodore and Rossi exchanged first-period goals before Foligno gave Minnesota a 2-1 lead early in the second.
A leap by Foligno knocked a fluttering puck down in front of the Vegas net, setting off a scramble that ended with Foligno shovelling the puck in for his third goal of the series.
Minnesota played without left wing Marcus Johansson who left Thursday’s Game 3 in the third period with a lower-body injury. Coach John Hynes did not provide a timeline for his potential return. Vinnie Hinostroza slotted in for the Wild.
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AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/NHL
Mike Cook, The Associated Press
