In a battle of two of the NHL’s hottest teams, the Minnesota Wild recovered from blowing a three-goal lead to top the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-3 in a shootout on Saturday night.
Both teams came into Saturday riding five-game winning streaks and battled through an intense first period. But Jordan Greenway scored as the period was winding down to give Minnesota an early 1-0 lead.
GOAL. GREENWAY. @mnwild | #mnwild pic.twitter.com/HhEw6zW4R8
— FanDuel Sports Network North (@FanDuelSN_NOR) December 5, 2021
The Wild’s good fortune continued into the second period when Mats Zuccarello scored a rare power play goal off the skate of a defender. The marker was the Wild’s first with the man advantage in their past 20 attempts and put Minnesota up 2-0.
LUCKY SNIPE!!! 🤑🤑@mnwild | #mnwild pic.twitter.com/tR1mNfW8Lg
— FanDuel Sports Network North (@FanDuelSN_NOR) December 5, 2021
A Marcus Foligno goal put the Wild up 3-0 midway through the second period but the Leafs got back into the game with a furious stretch in the final six minutes.
Two goals by Jason Spezza and another by Auston Matthews brought Toronto even heading into the second intermission but the Wild had a golden opportunity with a 5-on-3 in the early portion of the third period. But the Wild couldn’t capitalize adding to the woes of a power play that ranked 27th in the NHL coming into the game.
With neither team able to break the tie, the game went to a shootout. Zuccarello put Minnesota ahead on its first attempt before Auston Matthews tied it up on Toronto’s second attempt. In sudden death, Kaprizov buried an attempt over the shoulder of Campbell before Talbot stoned William Nylander to secure the victory.
WILD WIN!! WILD WIN!!
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— FanDuel Sports Network North (@FanDuelSN_NOR) December 5, 2021
With their sixth straight victory, the Wild (17-6-1) will travel to face the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday night.
