John Hynes made a bold move today when he pulled the goalie in overtime against the Vegas Golden Knights. This time though, the move did not work as the Minnesota Wild ultimately gave up an empty netter.
The NHL has a little-known rule that if a team gives up an empty netter in overtime, they concede the point earned by getting past regulation. As such, the Wild will walk away from today's game effectively with a regulation loss.
With the loss, the Wild are now ten points behind the Predators and seven point behind the LA Kings, who suddenly find themselves in the second wild card spot. With just nine games remaining on the Wild's schedule, their hopes for making the playoffs are now very grim indeed. They would need one of the Kings, Predators, or Golden Knights to go on a major collapse in order to squeak in. Furthermore, they would need to outplay the St. Louis Blues down the stretch as they are 2 points behind them in the standings as well. Similarly, the Blues' hopes of making the playoffs are also slim to none.
That being said, the Blues have an easy matchup against the San Jose Sharks tonight. Should they win, they can keep their playoff hopes alive a little bit longer.
