VANCOUVER, British Columbia, April 27 (UPI) -- Sergei Zholtok and Wes Walz scored 63 seconds apart early in the third period Sunday night and the Minnesota Wild barely avoided another late collapse, holding on for a 3-2 triumph over the Vancouver Canucks that tied their Western Conference semifinal series at one win each.
In Game 1, Minnesota squandered a two-goal lead in the third period as Matt Cooke scored with 1.2 seconds left to force overtime and Trent Klatt got the game-winner on a power play 3:42 into the extra session.
The goals by Zholtok and Walz gave the Wild another 3-1 cushion with 17:55 remaining. But Vancouver pulled goalie Dan Cloutier for an extra attacker with two minutes to play, a move that paid off 32 seconds later when defenseman Mattias Ohlund scored his second playoff goal.
The Canucks swarmed the Minnesota net in the final minute, but Dwayne Roloson -- who spent the previous four games on the bench -- stopped Markus Naslund's backhander from the edge of the right faceoff circle with 22 seconds left.
Roloson finished with 29 saves to help the Wild grab home-ice advantage. They host Game 3 Tuesday night.
