Zuccarello scores in OT, Wild rally past Canucks to keep pace in West wild card

VANCOUVER -- Mats Zuccarello scored 2:47 into overtime and the Minnesota Wild rallied from two goals down in the third period to defeat the Vancouver Canucks 3-2 at Rogers Arena on Saturday.

Brock Faber and Marcus Foligno scored in the third period to tie it, and Zuccarello finished an in-zone breakaway pass from Kirill Kaprizov in overtime with a deke to the forehand and around the outstretched right pad of Kevin Lankinen.

“It's not easy when you're down 2-0 after two periods and I'm just so proud of the boys,” Kaprizov said. “All third period I feel we play in offensive zone, go on net, do some shots and try and make some chances. Huge two points, yeah, huge two points for us.”

Filip Gustavsson made 12 saves for the Wild (44-30-7), who were coming off a 4-2 loss at the Calgary Flames on Friday. They lead the St. Louis Blues by one point for the first wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference and lead the Calgary Flames by five points. Minnesota and St. Louis each have one game remaining; Calgary has three left.

“That was a huge, huge two points,” said Faber, who also had an assist. “We control our own destiny. Now it's just on to the last one and the biggest one of the year.”

Marcus Pettersson and Jake DeBrusk scored, and Lankinen made 30 saves for the Canucks (37-29-14), who had won two in a row. The combined 14 overtime and shootout losses are the most in a single season for Vancouver.

“It's obviously a team fighting for their lives and they showed character, they showed heart, and they did what they had to do to get back in the game,” DeBrusk said. “We didn't really generate much towards the second half. They locked it down pretty good and that’s kind of the story of our year. We get it to overtime and just don't find that extra one.”

Pettersson scored at 3:11 of the first period to put the Canucks ahead 1-0. He took a cross-ice pass from Linus Karlsson, skated down inside the left face-off circle and sent a wrist shot over the blocker of Gustavsson.

It was Pettersson’s first goal in 29 games with the Canucks since being acquired from the Pittsburgh Penguins in a trade on Jan. 31, but he was more concerned about being outshot 13-4 in the third period.

“We were defending a lot in that game,” said Pettersson, who turned the puck over on the second Wild goal. “There were some more plays to be made and we kind of gave it away to them too much and let them come out of this. … They're a desperate team. They need this point, so I think we kind of handed it to them by giving them the puck too much.”

DeBrusk pushed the lead to 2-0 on a power play at 13:08 of the second period by deflecting a Nils Hoglander shot under Gustavsson’s blocker from the edge of the crease.

It was DeBrusk’s 27th goal this season, tying his NHL career high from 2018-19 and 2022-23 with the Boston Bruins.

Faber scored 22 seconds into the third period to make it 2-1, collecting a loose puck in the slot and sending it past a screened Lankinen.

“We came in here and it was quiet. It was positive, but everyone was laser focused on just trying to break down that wall,” Foligno said of the Wild room. “Give credit to Lankinen too, he played great and we got one past him early and I think that changed a little. If that's maybe later, it's still a little bit tougher of a hill.”

Gustavsson stopped Aatu Raty on a breakaway at 12:43 and Foligno tied it 2-2 at 13:14 when he drove to the net and redirected a Ryan Hartman pass from the right boards past Lankinen's blocker at the top of the crease.

“Sometimes you know you need to score heavy goals, going to net, dirty goals like Marcus and [Faber] too,” Kaprizov said.

The overtime winner was all about skill, with Kaprizov controlling the puck and circling the zone for an extended period before finding Zuccarello alone in tight.

“Big-time players make big plays, and he just seems to always be there in the big moments,” Faber said of Zuccarello.

NOTES: Wild defenseman Jared Spurgeon did not play after taking a puck in the throat in Calgary on Friday, and defenseman Declan Chisholm missed most of the second period in Vancouver after a hard hit into the end boards from Pettersson but returned in the third. Defenseman Cameron Crotty was minus-1 in 5:08 of ice time in his first game of the season and second in the NHL in place of Spurgeon. … Canucks defenseman Derek Forbort left after a fight with Yakov Trenin 4:12 into the third period and did not return. There was no update after the game. ... Canucks forward Ty Mueller made his NHL debut. He had two shots in 10:56 of ice time. ... Canucks defenseman Quinn Hughes had one assist to reach 75 points (16 goals, 59 assists) for a third straight season, becoming the seventh defenseman in NHL history to do so, and the first since Ray Bourque did it for five straight seasons from 1989-90 to 1993-94.