Ivan Barbashev chipped in a rebound at the 17:26 mark of overtime to give the Vegas Golden Knights a 4-3 victory over the Minnesota Wild in Game 4 of their Western Conference first-round series Saturday afternoon in Saint Paul, Minn.
Reilly Smith set up the game winner, picking up a loose puck after Jake Middleton whiffed trying to clear the puck from his own zone. Smith then fired the puck toward the net where Barbashev put in the rebound of a Nicolas Roy rebound try for the first playoff overtime winner of his career. The series is now tied 2-2 with Game 5 set for Tuesday night in Las Vegas.
Tomas Hertl and Roy joined Barbashev with a goal and an assist. Defenseman Shea Theodore also scored for Vegas while Adin Hill made 29 saves.
Marcus Foligno scored for the third straight game and Marco Rossi and blueliner Jared Spurgeon also scored for Minnesota. Filip Gustavsson finished with 42 saves.
Vegas took a 1-0 lead at the 6:47 mark of the first period on a power-play goal by Theodore, who fired a wrist shot from above the circle over Gustavsson’s left shoulder for his first goal of the playoffs. Jack Eichel picked up an assist on the play, his first point of the series.
Minnesota tied it midway through the period when Yakov Trenin knocked the puck off the stick of Vegas defenseman Nicolas Hague along the end boards and then made a backhand pass to Rossi, who roofed a wrist shot from the right side of the crease.
The Wild took a 2-1 lead 1:24 into the second period when Foligno slid in a rebound of a Ryan Hartman shot inside the left post for his third goal of the playoffs. Foligno’s goal streak is the longest of his postseason career and tied for his longest mark in the regular season.
The Golden Knights, who led the NHL with 109 third-period goals in the regular season, tied it at the 4:50 mark of the third period on Roy’s spinning rebound wrist shot from the slot, his ninth career playoff goal and his first of this postseason. The power-play score came after Wild rookie defenseman Zeev Buium picked up a double-minor high-sticking penalty in front of the net, cutting Mark Stone by the right eye.
Vegas then took a 3-2 lead midway through the period when Stone’s pass into the slot caromed in off the skate of Hertl, who was rolling on the ice with Hartman in front of the net. But the Wild came right back to tie it just 54 seconds later on a wraparound goal by Spurgeon, setting the stage for overtime.
