The third period of Game 4 of the first-round Western Conference playoff series between the Minnesota Wild and Vegas Golden Knights had a little bit of everything.
There was a score on the power play, a controversial goal that banked off a skater and an immediate answer. Naturally, all that drama wasn't enough to decide a winner, and Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn., got playoff overtime for the first time since 2017.
And for a while, it looked like it would take an extra overtime session until Ivan Barbashev pushed a puck that deflected off Jake Middleton with 2:47 into the Wild net to lift the Golden Knights to a 4-3 victory Saturday afternoon, evening the series 2-2.
Barbashev's goal put a cap on a game that had no shortage of drama late.
Nicolas Roy knotted the game for the Knights on the power play 4:50 into the third period after Wild defenseman Zeev Buium got a double minor for high sticking.
The Knights got a go-ahead goal shortly after at 10:03 in a strange sequence in which Tomas Hertl tackled Ryan Hartman in front of the net and somehow avoided a penalty before Mark Stone's shot bounced off him, past Filip Gustavsson and into the Wild net.
That lead lasted all of 54 seconds before Jared Spurgeon knotted it on a wraparound.
The remainder of the third period didn't go scoreless without some big saves from Gustvasson, who kept the Wild in it all night with his 43 saves on 47 Knights shots.
The Wild were outshot 47-32 but had just two power-play chances to Vegas' four.
Vegas got the first goal of the night when Shea Theodore scored a power-play goal 6:47 into the first period. Marco Rossi scored the equalizer 3 minutes, 56 seconds later with just the second Wild shot on goal in the game. Kirill Kaprizov had a good chance for a go-ahead goal later in the frame, but it was turned away by Vegas' Adin Hill.
Hill made 29 saves on the 32 Wild shots.
Instead, the Wild were able to take the 2-1 lead into the third period as Marcus Foligno scored just 1:24 into the frame, sending a rebound from Hartman past Hill. Foligno also ended the period with a highlight, delivering a massive hit on Brayden McNabb.
The Wild and Knights meet for Game 5 on Tuesday in Vegas. Time is TBD.
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