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On short rest in Sweden, Wild rally but fall in OT to Maple Leafs

Minnesota hasn't won a game in nearly two weeks.

Joe Nelson

On short rest in Sweden, Wild rally but fall in OT to Maple Leafs
On short rest in Sweden, Wild rally but fall in OT to Maple Leafs /

It was a gutty effort to come from two goals down but William Nylander drove the net and beat Marc-Andre Fleury for the game-winning goal in overtime as the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the Minnesota 4-3 Sunday in Stockholm, Sweden. 

Toronto had a day off between the Global Series games while the Wild had to play back-to-back, including Sunday's game against Toronto just 18 hours after Saturday's game against Ottawa ended. 

Minnesota trailed 3-1 in the third period but stormed back with goals by Jake Middleton and Mats Zuccarello to force overtime for a second consecutive day, but just like Saturday's shootout loss to the Senators, the Wild came up short in extra time. 

Jon Merrill scored 2:37 into the opening period and then it was all Toronto for the next two-plus periods as Auston Matthews and ex-Gopher Matthew Knies scored to give Toronto a 2-1 lead after one. Toronto then went ahead 3-1 when Morgan Reilly scored a little over four minutes into the third period. 

Wild Maple Leafs
Nov 19, 2023; Stockholm, SWE; Toronto Maple Leafs and Minnesota Wild players are separated after a play during a Global Series NHL hockey game at Avicii Arena.  / Credit: Per Haljestam-USA TODAY Sports

But something clicked for the Wild afterward as Jake Middleton blasted a slap shot through traffic into the back of the net to trim the deficit to 3-2 with 13:50 left in the third period, and then Mats Zuccarello tipped a centering pass from Brock Faber into the goal to tie the game 3-3 with 11:18 remaining. 

The Wild earned two of a possible four points in Sweden, but the overtime losses mean they haven't won a game since beating the Islanders 12 days ago. 

At 5-8-4, the Wild will get another four days off as they return to the United States before hosting the Colorado Avalanche in a nationally televised game on TNT on Friday night. 

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Joe Nelson
JOE NELSON

Title: Bring Me The Sports co-owner, editor Email: joe@bringmethenews.com Twitter: @JoeBMTN Education: Southwest Minnesota State University Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota Expertise: All things Minnesota sports Nelson has covered Minnesota sports for two decades, starting his media career in sports radio. He worked at small market Minnesota stations in Marshall and St. Cloud before joining one of the nation's highest-rated sports stations, KFAN-FM 100.3 in the Twin Cities. There, he was the producer of the top-rated mid-morning sports show with Minnesota Vikings announcer Paul Allen.  His radio experience helped blossom a career as a sports writer, joining Minneapolis-based Bring Me The News in 2011.  Nelson and Adam Uren became co-owners of Bring Me The News in 2018 and have since more than tripled the site's traffic and launched Bring Me The Sports in cooperation with the Sports Illustrated/FanNation umbrella. Nelson has covered the Super Bowl and numerous training camps, NFL combines, the MLB All-Star Game and Minnesota playoff games, in addition to the day-to-day happenings on and off the field of play.  Nelson also has extensive knowledge of non-sports subjects, including news and weather. He works closely with Bring Me The News meteorologist Sven Sundgaard to produce a bevy of weather and climate information for Minnesota readers.  Nelson helped launch and manage the Bring Me The News Radio Network, which provided more than 50 radio stations around Minnesota with daily news, sports and weather reports from 2011-17. 

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