The Vegas Golden Knights snapped their two-game losing streak with a 4-1 victory over the Minnesota Wild Sunday night at T-Mobile Arena.
The win helped Vegas reclaim the top seed in the league standings with a 29-11-3 record and 61 points. The Capitals and Jets also have 61 points, but Vegas has one more win than Washington and a game in hand over Winnipeg. Minnesota remains in third place in the Western Conference with 58 points (27-13-4).
For the first time this season, the Golden Knights were without the services of Jack Eichel, who missed the game due to illness. However, Nicolas Roy returned to the lineup following an 11-game absence, joining Ivan Barbashev, who was skating in his second game back after sustaining an injury Dec. 15 in Minnesota.
Pavel Dorofeyev’s two goals enabled him to take over the team lead with 16, leapfrogging Barbashev and Brett Howden (15). Vegas also got goals from Tomas Hertl (12) and Keegan Kolesar (10), while Adin Hill secured his 18th win of the year with 15 saves.
Interestingly, Marc-Andre Fleury, who is expected to retire at the end of this season, was not between the pipes for the Wild after starting last night against San Jose. In honor of what is likely to be his final appearance (at least in the regular season) at T-Mobile Arena, the Golden Knights played a tribute video for one of the most beloved players in franchise history. Fleury was emotional as the Vegas faithful gave him a standing ovation, and the fans also serenaded him with “Fleury” chants in the final minute of regulation.
The Golden Knights were in dire need of a bounceback effort after dropping two straight while scoring just one total goal in that stretch, but the Vegas offense was able to break through the dry spell with a four-goal performance. However, it was the Wild who opened the scoring with the lone goal of the first period.
Ryan Hartman capitalized on a Vegas turnover at the Minnesota blue line, scoring on a 2-on-1 to give the road team the 1-0 lead at 12:09.
From there, the Golden Knights shut things down, limiting Minnesota to just 13 more shots, all of which were turned aside by Hill.
Vegas managed to erase the one-goal hole 5:21 into the middle frame on a power-play tally by Dorofeyev. The equalizer was technically a 5-on-4 goal, but it came as a result of a lengthy two-man advantage for the Golden Knights after Minnesota got called for delay of game just four seconds into a tripping penalty on Devin Shore.
Despite being without Eichel, the Golden Knights demonstrated patience and moved the puck well on the power play. Mark Stone slid a pass through the legs of Zach Bogosian to find Dorofeyev alone in the slot; Dorofeyev delayed and then wristed one past Gustavsson to get Vegas on the board.
The Golden Knights outshot the Wild 17-6 in the second period, but Gustavsson kept the two teams tied at 1-1 heading into the third period. The same was true for Vegas going into the third period Saturday against the Rangers; this time, however, the Golden Knights were able to pull ahead.
Kolesar scored what proved to be the game-winning goal on a rebound just over four minutes into the frame.
Vegas proceeded to add two more goals, though it took more than 10 minutes to do so.
Tomas Hertl, who had one of his best games of the season, scored with 4:20 left in regulation to give Vegas some breathing room.
Dorofeyev scored his second of the game 2:08 later to seal the win for the home team. Once again, it was Stone who set up Dorofeyev in the slot on the power play.
Dorofeyev finished with a game-high three points, while Stone, Hertl and Shea Theodore all had two.
In the end, the Golden Knights outshot the Wild 37-16, including 28-9 in the second and third periods. Vegas managed a 72.97 percent expected goal share while leading 39-19 in scoring chances and 70-38 in shot attempts.
The Howden, Kolesar and Roy trio was especially effective, leading 8-3 in Corsi, 5-0 in shots and 1-0 in goals with a 79.14 percent expected goal share in 10:07.
The only forward line that did not finish with a positive Corsi share was the fourth (42.86 percent), which played just 5:07 as a unit. Tanner Pearson led the way with just under seven minutes of ice time, though he did have a great look on a breakaway.
As a team, the Golden Knights were able to maintain their strong defensive play while finding a way to open up offensively both at 5-on-5 and on the power play. The penalty kill went 2-for-2, Hill made the saves he needed to make, and the Golden Knights found a way to halt their two-game skid even without Eichel in the mix.
The Golden Knights finished the homestand with a meager 1-2-0 record and just two out of a possible six points, but they managed to right the ship following two underwhelming performances. They have won the first two meetings against Minnesota and will wrap up the season series March 25 in Saint Paul.
The Golden Knights will hit the road for a three-game swing starting Tuesday in Nashville against Jonathan Marchessault and the Predators.
