Jonas Brodin scored the game-winner with 1:06 remaining, just 26 seconds after Kirill Kaprizov tied the game, as the Minnesota Wild completed a stunning 6-5 comeback victory over the Vegas Golden Knights on Monday night.
Nick Bonino added two goals and an assist for Minnesota, while Joel Eriksson Ek and Kevin Fiala scored. Cam Talbot made 27 saves as the Wild erased two separate two-goal deficits to secure their fifth win over the West-leading Golden Knights in seven matchups this season.
“We’re a tight group,” Talbot said. “Whether down one or two goals going into the third, we stay confident. We’ve shown lately that it’s never out of reach for us.”
Mark Stone led the Golden Knights with a goal and an assist, while Shea Theodore, Alec Martinez, Alex Tuch, and Jonathan Marchessault also found the back of the net. Robin Lehner stopped 26 shots but couldn’t prevent Minnesota’s late rally.
Coming into the game, Vegas was 24-1-0 when leading after two periods.
“That’s a tough loss,” Vegas coach Peter DeBoer said. “It doesn’t happen to us often. We’ve been strong in these situations since I’ve been here. Thankfully, this isn’t happening two weeks from now during the playoffs because that would be a lot harder to take.”
The two teams, potentially meeting in the playoffs, will face off again on Wednesday in Minnesota. Vegas began the day with a four-point lead over Colorado in the West Division, while Minnesota was just two points behind the Avalanche.
“In a race like this, denying them points is huge,” Bonino said. “We know we might have to go through Vegas or Colorado in the playoffs. Right now, we’re focusing on playing the right way in these last five games and getting into playoff mode.”
Minnesota’s comeback tied the Boston Bruins for the third-period comeback wins this season with four. Fiala sparked the rally with his 20th goal of the season, while Kaprizov added his 24th, continuing his impressive rookie campaign. Brodin’s winning shot from the blue line found its way past Lehner’s right shoulder to seal the win.
“I felt good overall,” Lehner said. “I made some good saves but needed to make a few more. A few bad ones got through, and I need to figure that out.”
The game was chaotic from the start, with Eriksson Ek opening the scoring just 3:36 into the first period. The first period featured four goals by the 7:48 mark and five total. Stone added his ninth goal in 11 games during the second period, while Marchessault scored his fifth goal in five games. Bonino scored twice in the game, including a goal between Stone’s and Marchessault’s tallies, for his first multi-goal game of the season.
Pacioretty Scratched
Max Pacioretty, Vegas’ top scorer with 24 goals, was scratched due to an undisclosed injury. He had missed the third period and overtime in the Golden Knights’ previous game against Arizona. Pacioretty has missed only three games this season.
Nicolas Roy returned to the lineup for Vegas after missing three games with an undisclosed injury.
Krebs Makes NHL Debut
To help fill in for the absent Pacioretty, Peyton Krebs made his NHL debut for the Golden Knights. The 17th overall pick in the 2019 draft, the 20-year-old earned his first NHL point with an assist on Tuch’s first-period goal. Krebs started the season with the Winnipeg Ice in the Western Hockey League before joining the Henderson Silver Knights in the AHL, where he had one goal and four assists in five games.
- The two teams will meet again in Minnesota on Wednesday.