Wild inch closer to playoff berth, rallying to beat the Canucks 3-2 in OT

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Minnesota Wild’s Mats Zuccarello (36) scores the winning goal against Vancouver Canucks goalie Kevin Lankinen during overtime of an NHL hockey game in Vancouver, British Columbia, Saturday, April 12, 2025. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press via AP)

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Minnesota Wild’s Ryan Hartman (38) leaps on top of Mats Zuccarello (36), Kirill Kaprizov and Brock Faber as they celebrate Zuccarello’s winning goal against the Vancouver Canucks during overtime of an NHL hockey game in Vancouver, British Columbia, Saturday, April 12, 2025. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press via AP)

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Minnesota Wild’s Brock Faber, back, and Kirill Kaprizov, front right, leap into the arms of Mats Zuccarello (36) as they celebrate Zuccarello’s winning goal against the Vancouver Canucks during overtime of an NHL hockey game in Vancouver, British Columbia, Saturday, April 12, 2025. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press via AP)

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Minnesota Wild goalie Marc-Andre Fleury, right, skates to join his teammates as they celebrate Mats Zuccarello’s winning goal against the Vancouver Canucks during overtime of an NHL hockey game in Vancouver, British Columbia, Saturday, April 12, 2025. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press via AP)

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Minnesota Wild’s Mats Zuccarello (36) celebrate after scoring the winning goal against Vancouver Canucks goalie Kevin Lankinen during overtime of an NHL hockey game in Vancouver, British Columbia, Saturday, April 12, 2025. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press via AP)

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Vancouver Canucks’ Derek Forbort, right, and Minnesota Wild’s Yakov Trenin fight during the third period of an NHL hockey game in Vancouver, British Columbia, Saturday, April 12, 2025. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press via AP)

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Minnesota Wild’s Mats Zuccarello celebrates after scoring the winning goal against the Vancouver Canucks during overtime of an NHL hockey game in Vancouver, British Columbia, Saturday, April 12, 2025. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press via AP)

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VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Mats Zuccarello scored at 2:47 of overtime and the Minnesota Wild beat the Vancouver Canucks 3-2 on Saturday night to inch closer to a playoff berth.

Zuccarello beat goalie Kevin Lankinen on a breakaway after Kirill Kaprizov freed him in the zone with a nifty pass.

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With one game remaining, Minnesota holds the first wild-card spot in the Western Conference, a point ahead of St. Louis and five in front of Calgary. The Blues have two games left, and the the Flames have three to go.

Minnesota overcame a 2-0 deficit in the third period, cutting it to one on Brock Faber’s goal 22 seconds in the period and tying it on Marcus Foligno’s goal with 6:46 remaining.

Filip Gustavsson made 12 saves for Minnesota.

Marcus Pettersson opened the scoring for Vancouver early in the first, and Jake DeBrusk scored in the second. Lankinen stopped 30 shots for the Canucks.

Takeaways

Wild: Minnesota rebounded from a 4-2 loss at Calgary on Friday night.

Canucks: Defenseman Derek Forbort was hurt during a fight with Yakov Trenin early in the third period. The Minnesota forward was handed a game misconduct for punching Forbort while he was down on the ice.

Key moment

Capitalizing on a failed Canucks clearing attempt, Ryan Hartman passed to Foligno and the Wild winger popped a shot in past Lankinen to tie it.

Up next

The Wild host Anaheim on Tuesday night in their regular-season finale. The Canucks close the season at home against San Jose on Monday night and Vegas on Wednesday night.

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl