Cam Talbot made 38 saves as the Minnesota Wild avoided elimination with a 4-2 victory against the Vegas Golden Knights on Monday in Las Vegas.
Vegas still leads the best-of-seven West Division first-round playoff series three games to two. Game 6 is scheduled for Wednesday night in Saint Paul, Minn.
Kirill Kaprizov, Zach Parise, Jordan Greenway and Nico Sturm scored for Minnesota, which had lost three consecutive games since a 1-0 overtime victory in Game 1. Sturm clinched the victory by producing an empty-net goal with 39 seconds remaining.
Mark Stone and Alec Martinez scored for Vegas, and Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 10 of 13 shots.
Stone gave the Golden Knights a 1-0 lead at 8:14 of the first period on a wrist shot from the slot.
However, the Wild soon answered, taking a 3-1 lead by period’s end.
Kaprizov tied the score just 52 seconds later on a one-timer from the right faceoff circle. He took a cross-ice pass from Mats Zuccarello, who picked up the puck in his own end and swerved past several defenders before carrying the puck over the blue line.
Parise, a healthy scratch for the first three games of the series, made it 2-1 at 11:57. He alertly played a Jonas Brodin slap shot off the end boards and banked the puck off Fleury from beneath the goal line.
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Greenway scored at 16:34, taking a pass at center ice and shooting while surrounded by three defenders. Fleury made the save, but Greenway was first to the rebound and poked the puck into the net for a 3-1 Wild lead.
The Golden Knights pulled within 3-2 on Martinez’s power-play goal at 9:43 of the second. Martinez scored on a one-timer from the right faceoff dot after taking cross-ice pass from Alex Pietrangelo.
Vegas outshot Minnesota 22-1 in the second period but managed just the one goal.
–Field Level Media