Wild's Kirill Kaprizov comes to the rescue again with overtime winner to beat Canadiens

What did the Wild do for an encore to their best win of the season?

Follow the same script.

Kirill Kaprizov's one-timer from the right side deep in the offensive zone lifted the Wild past the Canadiens 4-3 in overtime on Thursday at Xcel Energy Center, almost a carbon-copy finish to their 4-3 overtime thriller vs. the Bruins on Tuesday when Kaprizov scored with an identical shot from a comparable spot.

"Pretty similar," Kaprizov said. "I think a little bit different. I start in the corner."

Yes, he peeled into his latest scoring position from the outside before connecting on a Marcus Johansson pass instead of duplicating the 3-on-1 rush he had against Boston. And the timing changed: Kaprizov's franchise-record eighth overtime goal nixed Montreal's comeback bid with only 4.9 seconds left in 3-on-3 to polish off his three-point effort.

But the significance — picking up another two points during a grueling week while missing multiple key players — was familiar.

"Good players find ways in those situations," coach John Hynes said. "That's why he's such a good offensive player. It's just the instincts to get to spots where you can score. It's not a coachable thing. That's why guys like him are special players."

Like two nights earlier, the Wild were in extra time after blowing a late lead.

Tied at 2 in the third period, Brock Faber scored his first power-play goal in the NHL at 8:57 with a shot from the middle to continue a standout performance by the rookies.

Earlier, Marco Rossi registered his first NHL Gordie Howe hat trick by assisting on the Wild's first goal, scoring the second and then getting in his first fight in defense of Kaprizov after Kaprizov was crushed into the boards. That was Rossi's first hockey fight, period.

"You don't really think too much," said Rossi, who also factored in Faber's goal for a career-high three points. "You see a bad hit and try to step up."

But the Wild went to overtime for the fourth time in the past five games after the Canadiens' Juraj Slafkovsky's shot hit traffic and then bounced into the net off Jake Middleton with 3:03 to go in regulation.

The Wild have prevailed in all four of those games.

Overall, they're on a 5-1 run.

What makes that stretch even more impressive is that's how they've fared since they started to lose some of their top players to injury.

Jonas Brodin and captain Jared Spurgeon have been gone from the blue line for the past six and five games, respectively, and Mats Zuccarello was sidelined before the Wild finished up a back-to-back at Boston.

They responded by knocking off a top-five team on its home ice.

"That's how it has to be," said Faber, who set a new career high in ice time at 33:25. "It's what you got to do. It's what you got to do to play in this league and stay in this league. We're playing some good hockey, and we're learning as we go."

That knowledge was quickly put to the test again.

Ryan Hartman, whose goal against the Bruins was his second in as many games, was scratched against Montreal because of an upper-body injury. The Wild made an emergency addition from Iowa in the American Hockey League, and forward Jake Lucchini arrived in St. Paul before puck drop. But the team opted to play with 11 forwards and seven defensemen.

Based on the first period, the Wild's offense didn't seem shorthanded.

Matt Boldy's one-timer on the power play (2-for-6) at 13:19 opened the scoring before Rossi buried a cross-zone pass from Zach Bogosian 1:35 later; Montreal challenged to see if the play was offside, but it wasn't.

"It was a really nice pass from him," Rossi said. "To be honest I didn't really expect it, but it was right on my tape, too, so it wasn't too hard for me."

But a different version of the Canadiens returned for the second.

Their 8-0 blitz in shots to start the period culminated in a wrister from David Savard that sailed through traffic and by Wild goalie Filip Gustavsson (22 saves).

Barely a minute later, Montreal's Kaiden Guhle crushed Kaprizov into the boards, and Rossi immediately fought Guhle despite Guhle standing six inches taller and weighing 19 more pounds.

"From my perspective, it was a bad hit to Kirill," Rossi said. "So, I just stuck up for him."

Both players were penalized for fighting, while Rossi received an extra two-penalty and 10-minute misconduct for instigating.

His exit to serve those penalties dropped the Wild to 10 forwards, and the team struggled to recalibrate.

"The second period was just awful," Marcus Foligno said. "A lot of penalties, and that did not help."

During a Foligno boarding penalty that carried over to the third period, the Canadiens finally took advantage when Nick Suzuki intercepted a deflected puck before it could reach Gustavsson and slid in a shot at 1:09. Montreal's power play went 1-for-5.

"We probably made it a little bit harder on ourselves than we probably needed to," Bogosian said.

Once Rossi returned, the Wild reset.

In his first shift back, the Wild drew a penalty that led to Faber's goal against goaltender Sam Montembeault, who totaled 20 saves.

"It was tough to lose [Rossi], too, because he had some legs tonight," Hynes said. "He was going. So, when he was out, that did affect us a little bit. But the guys stayed strong, and we found a way to get it done."

And in déjà vu fashion, from the way the game ended to the implications.

"It's not easy," Foligno said. "This is a hurt lineup. But at the same time, this is the character we have. We're deep, and we have character guys that want to play the right way, and John has us with the right message and identity.

"To win games like this without the star players, it's huge for us. So, it's a big character win."