Wild 2, Predators 1 (OT)
ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Devin Setoguchi scored a power-play goal with 38.2 seconds left in overtime and the Minnesota Wild beat the Nashville Predators 2-1 Saturday night.
Setoguchi took a pass from Mikko Koivu and his slap shot from the left dot found the bottom left corner of the net.
Cal Clutterbuck also scored for Minnesota, which ended a three-game slide. Wild netminder Niklas Backstrom, pulled after allowing four goals in two periods of Thursday's 4-1 loss to Vancouver, stopped 25 shots. He is 19-2-4 in his career in games after being lifted.
Paul Gaustad scored for the Predators, who lost for the first time in five games. In just the second start of the year for Predators goaltender Chris Mason, he stopped 30 shots. His only other start was a 3-1 win in Minnesota three weeks ago.
Minnesota nearly won it about a minute earlier when Mason stopped Koivu from the slot and looked back not realizing the puck was between his pads.
For the eighth time in its 11 games, Nashville scored first.
Craig Smith did all the work on Nashville's first goal except score. He circled the net from the right, cut in from the left and had his shot stopped by Backstrom. But Gaustad fought off a check in front to poke the rebound past the fallen netminder for his first goal of the season.
The Wild had better offensive chances much of the night but continued to struggle with its conversions. It was just the sixth time in 11 starts that Minnesota scored more than one goal.
Mason reached back to stop Koivu on a power play less than two minutes after Gaustad's goal, and Setoguchi nearly tied it in the waning seconds of the period. With Mason out of position after making a save, defenseman Ryan Ellis dived back into the crease to poke the puck away just as Setoguchi was about to push it into an open net.
The Wild evened the score midway through the second period when Clutterbuck tipped a wrist shot from Ryan Suter behind Mason. Clutterbuck was crushed into the end boards, got up slowly and ended up alone in front as he tried to get back in the play.
Nashville, last in the league in shots, finished with 26, seven of which came on a four-minute power play in the third period.
The Wild were 1 of 4 on the power play, and are 2 of 16 in their past six games. Nashville was 0 of 6 with the man advantage.
NOTES: Wild defenseman Tom Gilbert entered the game with three goals, which matches his total in 67 games last season. ... Minnesota defenseman Nate Prosser played for the first time in seven games, replacing Marco Scandella on the blue line. ... Only three Predators entered the game negative in the plus/minus category. Minnesota has just one player, Pierre-Marc Bouchard (+2), with a positive number. ... This was Nashville's eighth road game in 11 starts. ... The Predators start a four-game homestand Sunday against Chicago. Minnesota begins a two-game road trip Monday in Calgary.
