NHL: Rossi assists in Minnesota’s next loss

Marco Rossi and Co. made up for a two-goal deficit against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Sunday, but were defeated 3-4 after overtime. Rossi prepared the 1-0 lead with a pass to goal scorer Jon Merrill.

18 hours after the defeat against the Ottawa Senators (1:2 nP), the Wild went to work with a lot of energy and were the dominant team at the beginning. As on the previous day, the Rossi line with wingers Kirill Kaprisow and Mats Zuccarello took the lead (3rd). After a pass from the Vorarlberg center, defender Jon Merrill scored his first goal of the season.

The Maple Leafs were unlucky when John Tavares hit the crossbar (5th), got stronger in the middle of the starting third and turned the game around before the first break thanks to Auston Matthews in the power play (13th) and Matthew Knies (19th).

Minnesota missed three power plays in the middle third and fell behind by two goals at the start of the final period. Morgan Rielly defeated 38-year-old Marc-Andre Fleury for the third time (45th).

But Minnesota didn’t give up, put a lot of pressure on and a little later shortened the score to 2:3 through Jake Middleton (47′). Another two minutes later, Zuccarello equalized (49′). In extra time, William Nylander decided the game with his twelfth goal of the season.

Toronto celebrated its fourth win in a row, while Minnesota suffered its fifth defeat in a row.