Joel Eriksson Ek scored twice, leading the Minnesota Wild to a 5-3 victory over the Vegas Golden Knights on Monday night for their third consecutive win.
Mats Zuccarello, Marco Rossi, and Matt Boldy also found the net for Minnesota, which has now won six of its last eight games. Filip Gustavsson made 27 saves for the Wild.
Jonathan Marchessault, Michael Amadio, and Mark Stone scored for the Golden Knights, while Adin Hill stopped 24 shots.
Just a night after the Super Bowl became the most-watched program in television history at Allegiant Stadium, a sellout crowd of 18,207 inside T-Mobile Arena saw the defending champions lose only their third home game of 2024.
“The management of the puck to set our game up to spend a lot of time in the offensive zone was really strong,” said Minnesota coach John Hynes. “So it’s great to get the two points. But I’m most encouraged about the process of the last two games, the style of game, and commitment that it will take to win down the stretch.”
With the game tied at 2-all, the Wild regained the lead when Rossi punched in a rebound after Hill initially made a save but thought he had the puck secured. The puck dropped out of his glove and bounced into the crease. Boldy made it a two-goal game 61 seconds later when he tapped in a floater from the goal line.
“I was thinking just throw it to the net, to be honest,” Boldy said. “It wasn’t much to it; just got lucky.”
The loss spoiled Vegas defenseman Alex Pietrangelo’s 1,000th career game. Pietrangelo had two assists, becoming the sixth defenseman in NHL history to record multiple assists in his 1,000th career game. The two-time Stanley Cup champion was celebrated before the game.
Marchessault became the ninth player in NHL history to score in under 30 seconds in consecutive contests when his chip shot from the goal line clipped Minnesota defenseman Brock Faber’s skate and dropped behind Gustavsson just 22 seconds into the game. Marchessault scored 19 seconds into a 3-2 win at Arizona last Thursday.
The Wild capitalized on a 5-on-3 power play midway through the first when Zuccarello one-timed a pass from Kirill Kaprizov to tie the score. Minnesota took the lead less than two minutes later when Eriksson Ek tapped a rebound over Hill’s right leg from in front of the crease.
Amadio scored his 50th career goal with a shot from the top of the right circle to tie the score late in the first period.
After a scoreless second period, the action intensified in the final period when the Wild scored their back-to-back goals nearly a minute apart.
Stone cut the lead to one shortly thereafter with a blast from the top of the right circle, but Eriksson Ek’s empty-net goal provided the final margin.
“I thought we mismanaged pucks between the blues after the first five minutes,” said Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy. “I’m not making excuses, but I was concerned today about our energy level. It started out well, and some of the guys we rely on didn’t quite have it tonight either.”
UP NEXT
- Wild: Visit Arizona on Wednesday.
- Golden Knights: Host Carolina on Saturday.