Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Blog: Golden Knights fall to Wild, clinch playoff spot anyway

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Steve Marcus

Minnesota Wild goaltender Devan Dubnyk (40) celebrates with left wing Marcus Foligno (17) at the end of the third period as Vegas Golden Knights center Jonathan Marchessault (81) leaves the ice at T-Mobile Arena Friday, March 29, 2019. Minnesota Wild defenseman Jared Spurgeon (46) is at right.

Updated Friday, March 29, 2019 | 9:34 p.m.

The Golden Knights showed fight in the third period, bringing a push they lacked all game, but could not find a way to net the equalizer as they fell to the Minnesota Wild 3-2 at T-Mobile Arena.

It wasn't all bad news though. By virtue of the Arizona Coyotes' shootout loss, the Golden Knights clinched a spot in the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the second year in a row.

Vegas did net one in the third, but it was too little, too late.

Max Pacioretty flitted a perfect pass across the slot to Paul Stastny, who popped it into the net for his second of the night at 8:52. It was his first two-goal game with the Golden Knights, and it brought them to within one at 3-2.

The win was the Wild's second at T-Mobile Arena this season. They improved to 3-0 in this building, and 5-0-1 all-time against the Golden Knights.

The Golden Knights finished with the lead in shots on goal, 34-32.

Golden Knights find their game late, trail 3-1 after 2

The Golden Knights got on the board late in the second period, but after they had already allowed a goal, and their two-goal deficit to the Minnesota Wild remained, trailing 3-1 after tow periods.

Mark Stone thought he scored midway through the first, fighting through the defense and sending a wrap-around offering at the Minnesota net, and goalie Devan Dubnyk made his case for save of the year. Dubnyk was on his behind and swatted the puck away with his glove, letting it advance no farther than the goal line.

The Wild followed it up with another power-play goat at 11:22. Malcolm Subban made three saves in six seconds on a mad flurry in front of the net, but the fourth shot was Kevin Fiala's and it made it 3-0, the second game in a row the Golden Knights allowed the first three goals of the game.

The Golden Knights finally came alive with two minutes remaining in the second, after one of Vegas' better power plays of the season. Though the goal came four seconds after the penalty ended, it was the power play unit still on the ice: Shea Theodore blasted a shot from a Mark Stone feed, and Paul Stastny was there to pick up the rebound and make it 3-1.

The Wild led in shots on goal, 27-26.

Wild score twice in first period

Make it four straight games where the Golden Knights have come out slow. They've allowed the first goal in all of them, as well as trailing after the the period, this time 2-0 to the Minnesota Wild.

The Wild scored on what looked like a centering pass from the red line, when Greg Pateryn slid one to the middle, bounced off Malcolm Subban's pads and into the net 2:12 into the game. It was Pateryn's first goal of the season and gave the Wild an early 1-0 lead.

Vegas looked good at times in the first, particularly the the Max Pacioretty-Paul Stastny-Mark Stone line. Pacioretty returned to the lineup after missing three games and immediately made the line a dominant presence again. Stone and Stastny were terrific on the forecheck and in their own zone, and the line held a Corsi advantage of 8-3.

As the period went on, Minnesota re-established control, and cashed in on the power play with 19 seconds remaining. Moments after he was tripped to give the Wild the extra skater, Las Vegas native Jason Zucker zipped one off Eric Staal and into the net.

The Wild led in shots on goal in the period, 12-10.

Pre-game

Take a look at the standings and it's easy to make the case that the remaining five games won't make much difference in the Golden Knights' postseason seeding. They're pretty locked into the third spot in the Pacific Division and a date with the San Jose Sharks in the first round.

What will make a difference is who is healthy when that series begins. The Golden Knights have had a swath of minor injuries the past few weeks, but with the return of Max Pacioretty for today's 7 p.m. contest with the Minnesota Wild, Vegas is nearing full health at the most important time of the year.

"I've had my fair share of injuries this year. It seemed like always when I was picking up some momentum, so that part is frustrating. But it's nice to only be away for three games," Pacioretty said of his scary-looking injury. "We want to make sure that everybody is feeling good about their game at the right time of year. We feel we have that."

Pacioretty, who missed three games with an apparent leg injury, is a key contributor to the offense and the power play, which scored six goals over the last three games and went 1-for-7 with an extra man.

In the last few weeks, regulars Pacioretty, Marc-Andre Fleury, Shea Theodore and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare have missed time with some sort of malady. All but Fleury (lower body) are expected to play tonight.

"When you look down the stretch, you want to be playing well, but especially going into playoffs you want to have everyone healthy and ready to go," Theodore said. "I think we've done a good job managing that, and it seems like everyone is good to go."

Coach Gerard Gallant insists he is not resting players. Vegas is one point or an Arizona Coyotes loss away from clinching a postseason berth, and would like to get that out of the way.

"You play through it when you can play through it," Gallant said. "I'm not resting players."

Emerson's Prediction: Golden Knights 3, Wild 2

Season record for predictions: Keefer 5-5, Emerson 20-14

TV: NBC Sports Network (DirecTV 220, Cox 38, CenturyLink 640)

Radio: Fox Sports 1340 AM and 98.9 FM

Betting line: Golden Knights minus-200, Wild plus-170; over/under: 5.5 (minus-110, minus-110)

Golden Knights (42-29-6) (23-10-5 home), third place, Pacific Division

Coach: Gerard Gallant (second season)

Points leader: Mark Stone (71)

Goals leader: Mark Stone (32)

Assists leader: Mark Stone (39)

Expected goalie: Malcolm Subban (2.98 gaa, .901 save percentage)

Wild (35-33-9) (20-16-2 road), sixth place, Central Division; fourth place, Wild Card

Coach: Bruce Boudreau (third season)

Points leader: Zach Parise (59)

Goals leaders: Zach Parise (26)

Assists leader: Ryan Suter (39)

Expected goalie: Devan Dubnyk (2.58 gaa, .912 save percentage)

Golden Knights expected lineup

Forwards

Jonathan Marchessault, William Karlsson, Reilly Smith, Max Pacioretty, Paul Stastny, Mark Stone, Ryan Carpenter, Cody Eakin, Alex Tuch, William Carrier, Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, Ryan Reaves

Defensemen

Brayden McNabb, Nate Schmidt, Shea Theodore, Deryk Engelland, Jon Merrill, Colin Miller

Goalies

Maxime Lagace, Malcolm Subban

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