Blog: Late goal sinks Golden Knights against Wild

By Justin Emerson

Published Monday, Jan. 21, 2019 | 1:02 p.m.

Updated Monday, Jan. 21, 2019 | 5:49 p.m.

The Golden Knights had the puck on their stick for most of the game, but a late goal by the Minnesota Wild handed Vegas a 4-2 defeat Monday afternoon at T-Mobile-Arena.

Tied 2-2 with time winding down in the third, the Wild were buzzing Marc-Andre Fleury's crease, and finally scored with 5:31 to go. Charlie Coyle hit the right post, the rebound went to Jared Spurgeon and the pass went back to Coyle, who fired it inside the post to put the Wild up 3-2.

Mikko Koivu added an empty-net goal with 12 seconds left for Minnesota.

The Golden Knights were not without their chances.

At the start of the third, a Ryan Suter slash and a Marcus Foligno delay of game gave Vegas a 5-on-3 power play for 1:12. Vegas threw five forwards over the boards, but could only manage two shots on goal, though the Wild did block four shots.

The Golden Knights pulled Fleury with 1:23 to go with a faceoff upcoming in the offensive zone and put all forwards on the ice.

Game comes to life in second

If the first period was a case of the Mondays, the second period was coming back from the lunch break after taking some 5 Hour Energy.

Brandon Pirri made a blunder in the Minnesota crease, and the period ended tied with the Minnesota Wild 2-2.

Paul Stastny pulled Minnesota goalie Devan Dubnyk out to the right of the crease, then Stastny fed it to Pirri, who was all alone in the crease with the puck on his stick. Instead of an easy goal, Pirri whiffed on the shot and sent it right of the net.

Moments later the Wild scored their first of the game, as Joel Eriksson Ek fed Marcus Foligno from behind the net, and Foligno one-timed it past Marc-Andre Fleury to even the game at 9:09 of the second.

It took only 73 seconds for the Wild to grab the lead. This time it was Jordan Greenway rushing through the Vegas defense and finding Eric Stall to Fleury's left. What should have been a 2-0 game after Pirri's turned into a 2-1 Minnesota lead.

Stastny though, would not be denied an assist. At the 7:24 mark, Stastny fed Max Pacioretty in frot of the net, and Pacioretty sniped in the game-tying goal.

The Golden Knights led in shots on goal for the period 19-8, bringing the game total to 24-14 in favor of Vegas.

Knights grab edge in sleepy first

Sometimes it's hard to get back to work on a Monday. Neither team developed many scoring chances in the first period, but the Golden Knights carried a 1-0 lead into the first intermission over the Minnesota Wild.

Alex Tuch and Jonathan Marchessault teamed up to get the Golden Knights on the board early. On the power play, Marchessault deked around Minnesota's Mikko Koivu at center ice to set up a feed to Tuch, who was traded from the Wild at the Expansion Draft. The former Minnesota forward finished short-side and the Golden Knights led 1-0 at the 3:37 mark.

The Golden Knights' second power play of the period was not as successful, failing to generate a shot and having trouble keeping the puck in the zone.

Minnesota's best chance came with three minutes left in the frame, when Las Vegas native Jason Zucker pulled off an incredible spin move to dance around Nate Schmidt. His shot beat Marc-Andre Fleury, but rang off the iron. Minnesota got a power play not long after, but did not score.

Tomas Nosek blocked an Eric Staal shot on the Wild power play, and though he did not leave the bench, he appeared to be in a great deal of pain.

Wild led in first-period shots, 6-5.

Pre-game

The fun thing about the Golden Knights' 3 p.m. matinee with the Minnesota Wild is seeing the NHL's endgame by putting a team in Las Vegas.

Wild forward Jason Zucker may have been born in California, but he was raised in Las Vegas, making him the first player to make the NHL from the home of the Golden Knights.

"Although he plays for the other team, it's great to have a native of Las Vegas for the area," defenseman Nate Schmidt said. "It shows kids it's possible to make it."

Zucker brings with him a team desperate for a win. The Wild have lost three of their last five games and have fallen out of the final Western Conference Wild Card spot. The Wild have a games-in-hand advantage over the two Wild Card teams and have 34 games to go on a run, but falling out of spot could provide them with an extra boost today.

"There's still a lot of hockey to be played this season. Obviously no one's clinched yet," forward Alex Tuch said. ""Anybody can make the playoffs at this point and you never know what is going to happen going forward. I just know Minnesota is going to come out and work really hard because that's what they do."

The Golden Knights are riding high after a 7-3 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday, and have two active players with Minnesota ties on the team. Tuch was traded from the Wild at the Expansion Draft, and Schmidt is a St. Cloud, Minnesota, native who played his college hockey at the University of Minnesota. Erik Haula is on the IR, bit he played for both the University of Minnesota and the Wild.

"A lot of friends and family, ex-coaches, high school guys I played with, they always reach out and let you know what kind of game this means and you feel that," Schmidt said before answering if he expects his friends and family at home to wear Wild jerseys. "I think that there may be, but I hope they'd at least keep the jersey in the closet. Or at least wear it under a jacket. Maybe a Golden Knights hat, at least."

Emerson's Prediction: Wild 2, Golden Knights 1

Season record for predictions: Keefer 5-4, Emerson 11-6

TV: AT&T SportsNet (DirecTV 684, Cox 1313, CenturyLink 1760)

Radio: Fox Sports 1340 AM and 98.9 FM

Betting line: Golden Knights minus-168, Wild plus-158; over/under: 6 (plus-110, minus-120)

Golden Knights (29-17-4) (16-4-3 home)

Coach: Gerard Gallant (second season)

Points leader: Alex Tuch (38)

Goals leader: Jonathan Marchessault (17)

Assists leader: Alex Tuch (23)

Expected goalie: Marc-Andre Fleury (2.49 gaa, .911 save percentage)

Wild (24-21-3) (11-12-0 road)

Coach: Bruce Boudreau (third season)

Points leader: Zach Parise (42)

Goals leader: Zach Parise (20)

Assists leader: Mikael Granlund (27)

Expected goalie: Devan Dubnyk (2.60 gaa, .912 save percentage)

Golden Knights expected lineup

Forwards

Jonathan Marchessault, William Karlsson, Brandon Pirri, Max Pacioretty, Paul Stastny, Alex Tuch, Oscar Lindberg, Cody Eakin, Ryan Carpenter, Tomas Nosek, Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, Ryan Reaves

Defensemen

Brayden McNabb, Nate Schmidt, Shea Theodore, Deryk Engelland, Nick Holden, Colin Miller

Goalies

Marc-Andre Fleury, Maxime Lagace