Wild tie it late, then defeat Utah Hockey Club in shootout

SALT LAKE CITY – The Wild put their signature stamp on their inaugural trip to Utah.

Like they have all season, they rebounded from a rare regulation loss with a victory by rallying 5-4 in a shootout Tuesday night at Delta Center to complete another winning road trip.

“You can’t linger at all,” center Marcus Johansson said. “There’s too many games, and I feel like we’ve played good all year. Just because you lose one, it doesn’t mean that you gotta change something or whatever. Just go back at it, and we’ve been doing a good job of that.”

Matt Boldy scored in the shootout after Marco Rossi delivered a last-minute equalizer in the third period to continue a back-and-forth third period in which the Wild blew not one but two leads.

Earlier, Kirill Kaprizov nabbed his team-leading 18th goal after Marat Khusnutdinov’s first off a breakaway. Filip Gustavsson, who improved to 14-4-3, finished with 21 saves.

“It was a bit of a rollercoaster,” coach John Hynes said. “But I liked the fact that we stayed with it the way that we needed to regardless of everything that was going on throughout the game.”

With the win, the Wild (19-5-4) tied rival Winnipeg for the most points in the NHL at 42, but they vaulted back into first place because they’ve played fewer games. The Wild are also a league-best 12-2-3 on the road.

As far as bounce-back games go, this one tested the Wild’s persistence.

Despite dominating the shot clock early, they had nothing to show for it while Utah (12-11-5) eked out a 1-0 lead 13:46 into the first period on a shot from fourth-liner Kevin Stenlund after Wild defenseman Declan Chisholm broke his stick on a wind-up and Utah went the other way.

BOXSCORE: Wild 5, Utah 4 (SO)

NHL standings

Utah didn’t challenge Gustavsson the rest of the period and had zero pucks on net during a power play that carried over to the second period.

The Wild, meanwhile, blanked on 17 first-period shots and remained off to start the second. Combine the lull with barely avoiding getting shut out by Los Angeles on Saturday in a 4-1 loss after a decisive 5-1 win at Anaheim a night earlier, and the Wild looked as if they might have sunk into their first scoring rut.

Considering who they’re missing — Jakub Lauko returned after sitting out six games with a muscle injury, but offensive leaders Joel Eriksson Ek and Mats Zuccarello and defenseman Jonas Brodin are still absent, although Zuccarello and Brodin are skating — a dry spell wouldn’t be surprising.

But the Wild distracted from that concern by finally having the scoreboard sync up to the action on the ice.

After another Utah goal, a deflection by Dylan Guenther, was overturned by a successful Wild challenge for offside, the Wild pulled ahead.

Khusnutdinov intercepted an errant Utah pass at the blue line to skate in alone and capitalize on a breakaway with a blocker-side snapper at 14:25 for only his second NHL goal.

“That was a big goal to get us going,” Hynes said. “But that’s what you need, too, in those games: You get key plays at key times, and sometimes those can change the momentum.”

Khusnutdinov last scored April 12 at Vegas after he left the KHL to debut with the Wild, who drafted the Russian center in the second round in 2020.

“It’s a big goal for our team,” said Khusnutdinov, who felt “perfect” and relaxed after finally finishing. “But I think I have great chance in last 20 games. I’m trying, trying, trying.

“Just try shooting, score, nothing. Today is good day. Lucky day this score helped team.”

After the game, Yakov Trenin handed off the team’s postgame victory chain to Khusnutdinov after Kaprizov passed it off to Trenin for scoring his first goal Friday.

“That’s Russian to Russian to Russian now,” Boldy said. “So, I don’t know what they’re going to do next.”

Only 36 seconds after Khusnutdinov’s goal, a heave on net by Kaprizov squeaked through Utah goaltender Karel Vejmelka at 15:01.

Kaprizov, who went pointless vs. the Kings, is up to 43 points, which is tied for second in the NHL behind the 46 for Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon.

Like last season when the team was in Arizona before relocating to Salt Lake City, Utah is a pesky foe, and captain Clayton Keller answered back on the power play at 4:42 of the third; the Wild went 0-for-2.

Unfortunately for Utah, the Wild also stayed on brand.

Just 57 seconds later, they reclaimed the lead when Johansson (who was promoted to the top line in place of Boldy and also assisted on Kaprizov’s goal) polished off a scramble in front after Vejmelka (35 saves) didn’t completely cover a Rossi shot.

“Sometimes it’s just kind of what happens,” Johansson said of the line change. “I feel like magic happens most of the time with Kirill on the ice.”

Penalty trouble kept costing the Wild, with Keller converting again on the power play at 9:54, and Juuso Valimaki parlayed that momentum into a 4-3 advantage for Utah with 8:15 to go when he buried a bobbled rebound by Gustavsson.

“It’s been leaky as of late,” Hynes said of the 1-for-3 PK, “and we’re addressing it.”

Still, the Wild hung around and with Gustavsson pulled, Rossi wired in his 10th goal with 44 seconds remaining in the third period to extend the action. Johansson picked up another assist on the play. Rossi also had a late tying goal (34 seconds left) on Nov. 23 in the 4-3 shootout loss at Calgary. Rossi and Eriksson Ek (2021-22) are the only two players in Wild history with multiple game-tying goals goal in the final minute.

“We needed that to make this road trip feel good,” Johansson said.

After making four saves in overtime, Gustavsson remained airtight in the shootout, denying all three Utah attempts.

Frederick Gaudreau was stopped for the Wild before Boldy lifted in a backhander for his fifth career game-deciding shootout goal.

“I figured I have to do something. I didn’t think I played great tonight, so to be able to help out a little bit made me feel a little better,” said Boldy, who took two penalties, with the second preceding Keller’s first goal. “But just glad to get the two points.”

The Wild remained undefeated (13-0) when leading after two periods, although they took an unconventional route to keep their perfect record — and resilience — intact.

“We refuse to quit,” defenseman Jon Merrill said, “and no matter what goes in, on the penalty kill or whatever, we’re just gonna keep battling and keep playing to get wins.”