Wild takes it to the limit

The Minnesota Wild extended its Best of Seven Honda West Division semi-final series to the seven-game limit with a 3-0 shutout at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul Wednesday night.

The win pulled the Wild even at 3-3 in a series it trailed 3-1 after a 4-0 loss on home ice Saturday night.

Cam Talbot came up with the 23-shot shutout but was matched until the game’s 45^th minute by Marc-Andre Fleury in goal for the Golden Knights.

Ryan Hartman converted a pass from Kevin Fiala 4:21 into the final period for his second goal of the series and after the set-up, Fiala sank a huge goal on a powerplay about five minutes later.

The Knights appeared to even the score a short time after Hartman’s tally, but the goal was waved off for goaltender interference. The Knights decided to challenge the call on the ice and that ended up being a crucial moment as not only did the goal stand up, the visitors were assessed a two-minute minor which resulted in Fiala’s goal.

Nick Bjugstad hammered the final nail home with his marker with 4:43 to play. Defenseman Jared Spurgeon collected assists on both the second and third Wild goals.

The seventh and final game in this series will be played back in Vegas on Friday night at 8 p.m. CDT as the Wild looks to extend its streak to a third straight win. The winner of this series will move into the Division Championship series against the Colorado Avalanche.