The goal came after Ryan O'Reilly forced overtime, tying it 3-3 at 17:58 of the third period with a snap shot from the slot through traffic on the power play.
“I was just kind of playing to the top and just kind of sucking them down and then trying to roll into that dangerous ice and saw the D-man kind of come out, and I thought if I could get one through, I’d have a chance of getting one in,” O’Reilly said. “So, just try to get around them and lucky for us, it went in.”
Kirill Kaprizov had a goal and an assist, and Joel Eriksson Ek had two assists for Minnesota (31-27-7), which has points in four straight (3-0-1). Fleury made 27 saves.
“We’re not just going to quit, right?” Fleury said. “We got some pride, too, and we want to do well and keep fighting.”
Mark Jankowski had a goal and an assist, and Luke Evangelista extended his goal streak to three games for Nashville (37-25-4), which extended its point streak to 12 games (10-0-2). Juuse Saros made 29 saves.
“It was a fun hockey game,” Predators coach Andrew Brunette said. “I loved our game. I thought we deserved a little bit better. But it was a great game. I think it was entertaining. They played really hard. It was back and forth. It was everything you want in a hockey game. It was a fun one to be a part of. Would have loved the extra point, but the resiliency of our group, down one late and being able to score, I think it building our pillars of our success here this year.”
Jonas Brodin gave Minnesota a 1-0 lead at 3:16 of the first period, putting in a rebound below the left circle.
Jankowski tied it 1-1 at 9:00 with a one-timer from the bottom of the right circle after Kiefer Sherwood stole the puck from Kaprizov behind the net.
Evangelista gave Nashville a 2-1 lead at 3:36 of the second period after Jankowski’s pass deflected off Tommy Novak’s skate to Evangelista alone in the slot.
“We were right there, we battled back,” O’Reilly said. “We were doing good things, we had some good chances, too. Fleury made some unbelievable saves when we had open nets. Juuse came up big for us, too. Like you said, it was a back-and-forth game. It was there for us and a chance. Disappointing we didn’t get the two.”
Kaprizov made it 2-2 at 18:42 with a power-play goal, shoveling in a rebound in front after Saros made three pads saves.
Ryan Hartman gave the Wild a 3-2 lead at 12:28 of the third period when he stole an attempted breakout pass from Anthony Beauvillier in the neutral zone and beat Saros with a backhand on a breakaway.
“In the position we are, we really needed two points and we got a great power play,” Hartman said. “Those four guys out there, it’s hard to stop. I love that play.”
NOTES: The last team to score a goal in overtime with their goalie pulled was the Los Angeles Kings on Oct. 28, 2017, against the Boston Bruins. … The Wild earned their ninth third-period comeback win of the season. Only the Detroit Red Wings (11), Edmonton Oilers (10) and Dallas Stars (10) have more. … Only three teams have posted a longer run than Nashville’s 12-game point streak this season: Edmonton (16-0-0), the Winnipeg Jets (12-0-2) and the Seattle Kraken (11-0-2).
