Wild tie it late, defeat Utah in shootout

SALT LAKE CITY -- Marcus Johansson had a goal and two assists for the Minnesota Wild, who rallied for a 5-4 shootout win against the Utah Hockey Club at Delta Center on Tuesday.

Marco Rossi tied it 4-4 with 44 seconds remaining in regulation, scoring from the edge of the left circle after receiving a cross-slot pass from Johansson.

“We find different ways to win, and winning is all that matters,” Johansson said. “Two tough goals (against in the third period), seeing those go in on their power play is tough, and I think we kind of played our way into the game, but it was strong of us to come back and get a big two points.”

Kirill Kaprizov and Marat Khusnutdinov also scored for the Wild (19-5-4), who have won six of their past seven games. Filip Gustavsson made 21 saves and stopped all three attempts in the shootout.

“Toughness wins. Mental toughness and physical toughness,” Minnesota coach John Hynes said. “They're a good team. They play with strong strides and they make it hard on you. They’ve got some high-end offensive players, and it was a bit of a roller coaster. But as I said, I liked the fact that we stayed with it the way we needed to, regardless of everything that was going on throughout the game.”

Clayton Keller scored twice, and Karel Vejmelka made 34 saves for Utah (12-11-5), which has earned a point in six of its past seven games (4-1-2).

“It's a tough game, they're a good team,” Utah coach Andre Tourigny said. “We could feel we're not as energetic as we normally are. So, having that pushback late in the game, even if the guys were tired, I think that was huge. Unfortunately, we could not close the deal.”

Kevin Stenlund gave Utah a 1-0 lead at 13:46 of the first period, burying a one-timer five-hole on Gustavsson off a pass from Michael Carcone.

Utah appeared to extend the lead at 8:24 of the second period on a shot from Dylan Guenther, but Minnesota challenged the play for offside, and the call was reversed after a video review.

Khusnutdinov tied it 1-1 at 14:25, beating Vejmelka blocker side on a breakaway after intercepting a blind pass from Mikhail Sergachev at the defensive blue line.

Kaprizov scored 36 seconds later to give the Wild a 2-1 lead. His shot trickled past Vejmelka on another breakaway after Johansson poked the puck away from Olli Maatta.

Keller tied it 2-2 with a power-play goal at 4:42 of the third period, beating Gustavsson glove side with a wrist shot from the right circle.

Johansson responded back for Minnesota to make it 3-2 at 5:39. Vejmelka thought he had covered the puck, but it trickled behind him, and Johansson knocked it in before Maatta could help out his goaltender.

“I feel like we have all four lines going,” Johansson said. “Everyone's buying in and everyone's doing the work, so it's fun to see.”

Keller scored his second power-play goal of the period at 9:54 to tie it 3-3. He beat Gustavsson again from the right circle, this time shooting blocker side.

“We played hard tonight,” Keller said. “It was nice to get a couple on the power play, hopefully build some momentum there. I thought we got better as the game went on ... but we'll learn from it and be ready to go next game.”

Juuso Valimaki gave Utah a 4-3 lead at 11:45, getting to his own rebound in front and chipping a backhand over Gustavsson.

“I think we're playing good hockey,” Valimaki said. “I think it's been a long time that we've been playing pretty good hockey, and sometimes we haven't gotten the results. ... Obviously, we want to try to find a way to get a win there, but how the first 40 minutes went, we can be proud of our effort."

NOTES: Keller scored two power-play goals in a game for the first time in the NHL. ... Khusnutdinov's goal was his first of the season. ... Kaprizov has scored four goals in his past five games.