Bold-y move: Wild pull goalie in overtime and stun Nashville

Teams that lose after pulling the goalie in OT also forfeit the extra point they get for going to OT.

Author:
Joe Nelson
Publish date:
Mar 10, 2024 6:36 PM EDT

Pulling the goalie in a 3-3 game in overtime? Nobody does it, but coach John Hynes made the bold move Sunday in St. Paul and it immediately paid off as Mats Zuccarello slid a pass through traffic and Matt Boldy one-timed a rocket into the goal for a 4-3 win over the Nashville Predators.

How risky was pulling Marc-Andre Fleury in overtime? NHL rules stipulate that a team that pulls the goalie for an extra attacker and winds up losing on an empty-net goal forfeits the point they get for simply getting to overtime.

But the move paid off and gave the Wild (31-27-7) two critical points, giving them 69 for the season with 17 games to go. They're six points behind Vegas for the second wild card in the Western Conference playoff race and nine behind Nashville – the Predators are riding a 12-game points streak – for the first wild card.

Jonas Brodin got the scoring started just over a minute after Marcus Foligno, in his second game back since aggravating a groin injury a month ago, dropped the gloves and delivered a beating to Nashville’s Michael McCarron.

The tone-setting start didn’t last long as the Predators tied the game 1-1 at the 9:00 mark of the opening period on a goal by Mark Jankowski and later took a 2-1 lead on Luke Evangelista's 14th goal of the season early in the second period.

Trailing 2-1, Kirill Kaprizov stayed hot by netting the equalizer on the power play with 1:18 left in the second period. Kaprizov has 11 goals in his last 11 games.

The game stayed tied until Ryan Hartman jumped a pass like a cornerback jumping a route in the NFL and scored on a breakaway with 7:32 to go in the game.

A holding penalty on Joel Eriksson Ek with 2:47 to play put the Predators on the power play with a chance to tie the game and they didn't waste the opportunity as Ryan O'Reilly's wrist shot through traffic got by Marc-Andre Fleury with 2:02 to play.