If Minnesota Wild fans had one eye on the rink and one eye on the out-of-town scoreboard on Tuesday, it’s understandable.
The home team in St. Paul did its part, rallying to beat the Seattle Kraken 5-2 in Minnesota’s second-to-last home game of the regular season. And Minnesotans were rooting hard for the Calgary Flames to win deep in the heart of Texas. Calgary fell to Dallas 4-3 in overtime, assuring that the Stars will still be in second place in the Central Division when they meet head-to-head on Thursday.
Trailing 1-0 and 2-1 in the first period, the Wild got goals from Matt Boldy, Nick Foligno, Vladimir Tarasenko, Marcus Johansson and Joel Eriksson Ek, improving to 4-0-0 in April and keeping pace with Dallas in the race for home ice in the playoffs.
Jesper Wallstedt had 25 saves for Minnesota, improving to 17-8-6 as a rookie goalie.
The Kraken opened the scoring on what was technically a 5-on-5 goal, but the puck crossed the goal line a second or so after Wild forward Vladimir Tarasenko emerged from the penalty box. It was a shot by Seattle defender Brandon Montour that deflected off Wild forward Danila Yurov and past Wallstedt to give the visitors the early lead.
The Wild forged a tie on Boldy’s 42nd of the season after a 2-on-1 rush to the Seattle net. Kraken goalie Joey Daccord stopped Joel Eriksson Ek’s initial shot, with the rebound popping up and hitting Boldy in the chest, before deflecting off his stick and into the net. Officials on the ice immediately ruled no goal, but after a video review it was added to the scoreboard.
A short time after Seattle took a 2-1 lead, a hard hit by Marcus Foligno on Seattle defenseman Ryker Evans in the corner led to a neutral zone fight between Foligno and Kraken defender Jamie Oleksiak.
After Foligno tied the game in the opening minute of the middle frame, it stayed that way when the Wild challenged a play that was originally ruled a Seattle goal. Kraken forward Freddy Gaudreau had his stick on Wallstedt’s glove hand, preventing the goalie from stopping a Jaden Schwartz. Wallstedt pleaded interference to the official immediately, and after a video review, the goal came off the board.
Seattle killed the Wild’s first power play, but Minnesota took the lead just a few seconds later when Daccord stopped a puck off the stick of Ryan Hartman, but the rebound trickled just far enough away for Tarasenko to slip it behind the goalie.
Johansson gave Minnesota some breathing room, scoring just his second goal since the Olympic break on a tap-in at the side of the net after a pretty set-up play by Boldy.
Daccord finished with 24 saves for the Kraken, who were making their lone visit to St. Paul this season.
The Wild embark on their final regular season road trip next, visiting Dallas, Nashville and St. Louis over the next six days.
During the game’s first media timeout, Gaudreau was honored with a tribute on the video board and a nice ovation from the Grand Casino Arena audience. Gaudreau, 32, went to the Kraken last summer after spending the previous four years with the Wild.
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