By Kate Butler

The Wild took their home ice tonight for a rematch against the Calgary Flames, a game that was a must-win for Minnesota. This past Saturday in Calgary, the Wild lost to the Flames 3-1, but got the redemption they were looking for at home tonight. After several penalties for both teams, and countless line rotations by Wild Head Coach Mike Yeo, Minnesota was able to pull out a 2-1 overtime victory against Calgary.

Halfway through the first period, Jason Zucker found himself in the box for slashing, a penalty play that the Flames almost immediately capitalized on. Just seven seconds into the power play, Alex Tanguay scored what would be his 16^th goal against the Wild, as well as the first of the game. Minutes later, Zach Parise thought he scored the game-tying goal, but it was called off and the second period opened with the Wild down by one.

Minnesota was outshot 12-9 in the first period, but seemed to be less picky about getting shots off throughout the course of the second period. Overall, the Wild seemed to turn up the heat as this period progressed, and ended up outshooting the Flames 11-5. Charlie Coyle received a five minute major after delivering an obvious elbow to Matt Stajan with around five minutes left to play. The Minnesota Wild successfully killed this power play without giving up a single shot on goal.

The Wild went into the final period of regulation trailing the Flames by one goal. Minnesota was behind by a single goal for just over 45 minutes, which changed after a goal from Jason Zucker. With roughly four minutes left of regulation play, the rookie tipped in the game-tying goal, which came from Setoguchi and Suter. After six solid, but failed, scoring attempts from Spurgeon, the score was set at one goal apiece heading into overtime.

Mark Giordano’s penalty for smothering the puck at the tail end of the third period led the Wild into overtime on a power play. Minnesota wasted no time capitalizing on the advantage they had been given, as 27 seconds into OT Parise scored the game winning goal. This marks Parise’s eighth career overtime winner, and a big win for his team.

In a post-game interview, Wild Head Coach Mike Yeo said of the win, “To me, personally, I thought that this was a huge step for our club.” The Wild needed this big win as they head into back-to-back games in Phoenix and Anaheim on Thursday and Friday. “That’s the battle, riding the emotion, finding a way to come back to the rink the next day and to be great,” Yeo said looking ahead to their next games.

The Wild are back in action on Thursday when they will take on the Phoenix Coyotes on the road. The puck drops at 8p and you can listen to every detail on KFAN 100.3FM.