Watch: Wild get OT winner thanks to most aggressive gamble of season
The Minnesota Wild are doing everything they can to cling to their slim playoff hopes, and they managed to get a huge 4-3 overtime win against the Nashville Predators — one of the teams they are chasing — on Sunday.
They have one of the gutsiest, riskiest and boldest coaching decisions of the season to thank for it.
With the game tied, 3-3, late in the overtime period, Wild coach John Hynes elected to pull goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury for the extra attacker and to give his team a 4-on-3 advantage.
It worked, as Wild forward Matt Boldy blasted a one-timer behind Nashville goalie Juuse Saros for the win.
This is an almost unheard of gamble in the NHL because of the rules and risks that come with it.
By getting to overtime both teams were guaranteed at least one point in the standings. But if a team pulls their goalie in overtime and gives up the game-winning goal with an empty-net, they forfeit the overtime loss point and would walk away with zero points.
That is why you almost never see a team pull their goalie in overtime for an extra skater.
For the Wild, the potential reward was worth the risk in their eyes.
The only way they are going to stay in the playoff race is if they keep getting two points. If they had lost to Nashville on Sunday, whether it be in regulation or overtime, they would have fallen further back and faced an even tougher climb up the standings.
Hynes decided to go for the win and risk giving up one point with the potential reward of two points.
The risk paid off and his team gets two huge points.
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