Ryan Hartman, Jake Middleton and Vinni Lettieri scored as the Wild rallied from a three-goal deficit to tie Monday night’s game, but the Pittsburgh Penguins got a late power-play goal from Sidney Crosby for a 4-3 victory in Pittsburgh.
Reilly Smith scored a 7:39 in the first period, Jake Guentzel scored on the power play at 0:36 in the second frame and Evgeni Malkin scored a 3:34 in the same period as the Penguins took a 3-0 lead midway through the second period.
Filip Gustavsson got the start for the Wild (12-13-4), somewhat of a controversial decision considering it was possibly future Hall of Famer Marc-Andre Fleury’s last chance to play in Pittsburgh, where he won three Stanley Cups.
The fans in Pittsburgh were reportedly cheering for Fleury despite enjoying a three-goal lead. They never got their wish as the future Hall of Famer never saw the ice, but they did get a game.
Hartman scored at 15:06 in the second period, Middleton struck at 17:30 in the same frame and Vinni Lettieri scored 5 minutes, 33 seconds into the third as Minnesota suddenly tied the game at 3-3.
But the Wild’s lead didn’t last long. The Penguins (14-13-3) got Crosby’s power-play goal less than a minute later at 6:20 in the third period — enough to hang on for the victory.
Gustavsson finished with 26 saves on 30 shots for Minnesota. Alex Nedeljokovic stopped 24 of 27 for Pittsburgh.
The Wild return to action on Tuesday night when they face the Bruins in Boston at 6 p.m. CST.
