The Minnesota Wild are desperate for points in their attempt to make the playoffs this season. Head coach John Hynes demonstrated his team’s desire to climb the ladder in the team’s 4-3 overtime victory over the Nashville Predators by pulling goalie Marc-Andre Fleury during the five-minute extra session. Matt Boldy made it pay of by scoring the winning at the 3:30 mark of overtime.

What made the overtime winner a sensational display of risk is that the Wild would have forfeited the point they gained by being tied at the end of regulation time. NHL rules underline that a decision to pull the goalie and give up the decisive goal means the team will lose the point they would have had by sending the game to the extra session. Hynes explained why he took the risk in his postgame meeting with the media.

“We need two points,” Hynes said. “One point, zero points, it’s not doing us any good. Two points is what we need.”

While Hynes came up with the strategy, it was Matt Boldy who made it pay off when he blasted the puck by Nashville goaltender Juuse Saros. Boldy had no clue the Wild would have lost the point if the Predators would have found the empty net. “I did not know that. … Good thing we scored.”

Ryan Hartman had given the Wild a 3-2 lead with less than eight minutes left in the third period when he scored on a breakaway with a backhand shot to the top of the net. Ryan O’Reilly sent the game into the extra session when he tied the score on a power play goal with less than two minutes left in regulation.