Golden Knights edge Wild again in OT in Game 5

LAS VEGAS -- Brett Howden scored at 4:05 of overtime to give the Vegas Golden Knights a 3-2 win against the Minnesota Wild in Game 5 of the Western Conference First Round at T-Mobile Arena on Tuesday.

Howden roofed a one-timer from the bottom of the left circle off a backhand pass from Tanner Pearson, who was below the goal line.

“[Nicolas Hague] did a good job to keep it in. You know, staying on top of the wingers,” Howden said “[Pearson] drawing two guys to him left me open. They play tight defensively, so for them to kind of have a quick breakdown like that, and [Pearson] to make a great play, on his backhand, too, puts me alone out there. I just tried to get it off quick. It’s a great play by [Pearson] to draw those guys in and free me up.”

The Golden Knights, who also won 4-3 in overtime in Game 4 on Saturday, lead the best-of-7 series 3-2. Game 6 will be in St. Paul, Minnesota, on Thursday (7:30 p.m. ET; FDSNNO, SCRIPPS, ESPN, TVAS2, SN360).

“It's a race to four, it's not a race to three,” Wild coach John Hynes said. “Like I've said all along in this series, it's right there. ... The series is competitive.”

William Karlsson and Mark Stone scored, and Jack Eichel had two assists for Vegas, which is the No. 1 seed from the Pacific Division. Adin Hill made 20 saves.

“It’s always the hardest to finish the series off, right?” Pearson said. “We have to have the mentality, and they're going to give us their best, so it's going to be a good game.”

Kirill Kaprizov and Matt Boldy scored, and Joel Eriksson Ek had two assists for Minnesota, which is the first wild card from the West.

Filip Gustavsson made 23 saves before leaving the game after the second period because of an illness. He was replaced by Marc-Andre Fleury, who made six saves on seven shots.

“We're confident in our game. We know that if we play the right way that we can beat this team,” Boldy said. “... Like I said, take the good, fix the bad and kind of just keep our energy up. That's the biggest thing. You can't be deflated. It's a series. You go back home and you use the fans to try to win that game, and then anything can happen in Game 7.”

Karlsson gave the Golden Knights a 1-0 lead at 8:25 of the first period with a short-handed goal. Eichel stole a centering pass by Kaprizov, skated down the ice on a rush, and sent a pass to Karlsson for a tap-in into an open net.

“He got the puck there and going the other way, and I just try to keep up,” Karlsson said. “He had like three guys on him, and then he just slid it over to me, and empty net.”

Kaprizov made up for the mistake by scoring 13 seconds later on the same power play to tie it 1-1. He buried a one-timer from the bottom of the right circle off a cross-ice pass from Mats Zuccarello.

Stone put the Golden Knights back in front 2-1 at 13:24 with a one-timer through a screen from just inside the blue line.

Boldy tied it 2-2 at 3:31 of the third period. He took a backhand cross-ice pass from Eriksson Ek, skated down the right wing around Alex Pietrangelo, and chipped a shot over Hill’s glove.

Ryan Hartman thought he scored the go-ahead goal for the Wild with 1:15 remaining in regulation, but the Golden Knights challenged the play for offside, and the call was reversed after a video review.

“It was a great pickup by [video coach Dave Rogowski]. It saved our [butt],” Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said. “Good on him. We took a deep breath, came in between periods and acknowledged that we got a break, so let's go to work back to our game.”