Game Recap: Wild 4, Canadiens 3

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Kirill Kaprizov scored with 5 seconds left in overtime, and the Minnesota Wild defeated the Montreal Canadiens 4-3 at Xcel Energy Center on Thursday.

Kaprizov scored in overtime for the second straight game. Minnesota has gone past regulation four times in their past five games, winning two shootouts in the 4-1-0 stretch.

“We've been in a lot of overtime games as of late, and particularly tonight, I thought we had a great start,” Wild coach John Hynes said. “I thought the second period we got away from it a little bit and I thought they got some life and momentum. And then even just the late goal that they scored, but just our ability to stay with it and just talk about our focus level, you know, the mental toughness to understand that there's going to be ebbs and flows in games, but I just think our focus level, our poise and confidence in the tight games has looked good.”

Kaprizov also had two assists, Marco Rossi had a goal and two assists, and Brock Faber had a goal and an assist for the Wild (14-13-4), who have won two in a row and five of their past six (5-1-0). Filip Gustavsson made 22 saves.

“We had a really good first period,” Rossi said. “Second period we knew they were gonna come. We did some stupid penalties I would say but [Gustavsson] was really good again, and he kept us in again.”

David Savard had a goal and an assist, and Nick Suzuki and Juraj Slafkovsky also scored for Canadiens (14-13-5) who have earned at least one point in five of their past six games (3-1-2). Sam Montembeault made 20 saves.

"Honestly, down 2-0 ... I felt like we didn't maximize our O-zone time,” Montreal coach Martin St. Louis said. “Because we had time in there. We weren't doing a good job in high ice. Our D's, we were releasing pucks and our D's weren't able to get to the next thing. We corrected ourselves because we talked about it. Again, we're learning. Playing against a team that plays zone defense, playing against a team that plays man-on-man, playing against teams that play hybrid like we do, there's some little adjustments and nuances and sometimes you almost have to feel it and like, 'OK, that's what we're talking about.' We did. We corrected ourselves in the second, and it was an excellent period for us."

Montreal rallied twice in the third period. Suzuki tied the game 2-2 with a backhanded rebound at 1:09.

"It was a pretty even game,” Montreal forward Brendan Gallagher said. “Obviously they jumped on us pretty early, we battled back, battled back. We were slowly feeling like we were taking over the game. They made one more play than we did."

Faber put Minnesota back ahead 3-2 six seconds into the power play at 8:57, sliding across the blue line before shooting through traffic.

Savard sent a shot through traffic which deflected off defenseman Jake Middleton and grazing Slafkovsky’s stick at 16:55 for a 3-3 tie.

“To be honest, I just felt it go off my (body),” Slafkovsky said. “Then I saw it in the net, so I thought at first (Suzuki) scored a goal because he was kind of in that area, but then they told me it went off some skate. Pretty much I don't care how it goes it. It just matters that it was 3-3."

Matt Boldy made it 1-0 Minnesota at 13:19 of the first period with a snapshot at the goalmouth on the power play.

Rossi increased the lead 2-0 at 14:54 ripping a wrist shot from the left circle off a cross-ice feed from Zach Bogosian.

“I just kind of saw an opening,” Bogosian said. “He did a good job of filling that lane, getting open. I think it starts with we turn the puck over, we made them turn the puck over and we get north quick again, right back at them. Really don’t let them get set up defensively and plays like that are going to help you.”

Savard cut the deficit to 2-1 at 8:17 of the second period picking up a long rebound from the right circle.

NOTES: Canadiens forward Emil Heineman had one hit in 5:56 of ice time in his NHL debut. … Wild forward Ryan Hartman did not play and is day to day with an upper-body injury. … Faber played an NHL career-high 33:25, and has eclipsed 30 minutes in four of his last five games.