Wild top Canucks in OT, inch closer to playoff spot

Mats Zuccarello scored the winning goal 2:47 into overtime as the Minnesota Wild continued their late playoff push by rallying to beat the host Vancouver Canucks 3-2 on Saturday.

Zuccarello snuck behind the Vancouver defense and took a pass from Kirill Kaprizov then deked goaltender Kevin Lankinen as the Wild (44-30-7, 95 points) clawed their way back from a two-goal deficit to start the third period.

Brock Faber had a goal and an assist and Marcus Foligno scored for the Wild, who entered the contest needing a regulation win along with a regulation loss by St. Louis to clinch a Western Conference wild-card spot. The Blues (43-30-8, 94 points) lost in a shootout to the Seattle Kraken, earning them a point.

Wild goalie Filip Gustavsson stopped 12 of 14 shots.

Jake DeBrusk and Marcus Pettersson scored for the Canucks (37-29-14, 88 points). Quinn Hughes got his 59th assist of the season while Lankinen stopped 30 of 33 shots.

Hughes became just the seventh defenseman in league history to record three consecutive 75-point seasons.

Pettersson opened the scoring for Vancouver at 3:11 of the first with a shot that beat Gustavsson to the short side.

DeBrusk scored a power-play goal at 13:08 of the second to give Vancouver a 2-0 lead. DeBrusk beat Gustavsson with a shot to the blocker side that looked similar to Pettersson's.

Faber got the Wild's rally started by threading a shot through the legs of the Canucks' Conor Garland and past Lankinen just 22 seconds in the third to cut the Vancouver lead to 2-1.

Foligno scored at 13:14 of the third to tie the game 2-2 and set the stage for overtime.

This was the teams' final meeting this season. The Wild won the first game at home 3-2 in overtime on Dec. 3, then the Canucks returned the favor against the visiting Wild 3-1 on March 7.

--Field Level Media