Kirill Kaprizov’s overtime goal helped the Minnesota Wild defeat the Calgary Flames 3-2 Thursday night and keep their hopes alive for home-ice advantage in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The Wild entered the night tied with the St. Louis Blues for second place in the Central Division but with two games left to the Blues one. With both teams at 109 points, Minnesota needed to pick up three points in its final two games to host the Blues in their best-of-seven series that begins next week.
With the win, if the Wild beat the Colorado Avalanche in their season finale on Friday night, they will guarantee home ice.
The Flames who had won the previous two meetings with the Wild this season, and took the lead through Johnny Gaudreau at 2:59 in the second period.
Minnesota’s comeback began when Jonas Brodin scored his fifth goal of the season on a power play marker at 6:02 of the second period. Fredrick Gaudreau gave the Wild the lead with his 14th goal of the year at 11:59 of the third, but Elias Lindstrom tied the game for Calgary with 2:56 to go in regulation.
In overtime, Kaprizov unleashed a power play rocket past Jacob Markstrom to put the Wild on the verge of clinching home ice.
The Blues can still clinch home ice if the Wild lose in regulation on Friday and they beat the Vegas Golden Knights in regulation. This would give St. Louis 48 regulation wins to the Wild’s 47 in that scenario.
In any event, a win for the Wild on Friday would simplify things.
