So, when the teams met again Thursday night, it was expected that the Wild would come into this game hungry to stick it to the team that eliminated them from the playoffs.
However, this surge came too late. Despite a two-goal third period, the VGK were able to knock off the Wild 3-2.
“That was a really gutsy effort by our group,” Head coach Pete DeBoer said. “We had a lot of reasons not to win tonight. We could have taken some easy ways out of that game, and we didn’t.”
The Golden Knights rookies dominated the first period. Both Paul Cotter and Jonas Røndbjerg scored their first National Hockey League goals to give the VGK a 2-0 lead.
“I don’t think it gets much better than that,” Cotter said. “It was so special.”
The Golden Knights defense, which has significantly improved over the last few games, held the Wild to just five shots on net in the period. None of which were particularly dangerous. Meanwhile, they landed 16 shots of their own on Minnesota goaltender Cam Talbot.
The first half of the second period was much of the same. The Golden Knights defense kept the Wild from generating a ton of high-danger chances, and the offense was getting some good looks.
After the half-way mark of the period, things got interesting. Shea Theodore hooked Kirill Kaprizov with just under nine minutes to play in the second, sending Vegas to the penalty kill. In the dying seconds of that kill, Nicolas Hague sent the puck flying over the glass for a delay of game penalty. They killed off the remainder of the remainder of the Theodore penalty, but Alex Pietrangelo took another delay of game penalty just eight seconds after Theodore’s penalty expired. This gave the Wild a five-on-three power play for 1:39.
Thanks to a few massive stops from Laurent Brossoit and some fantastic work from the penalty killers, the VGK escaped the five-on-three unscathed. T-Mobile Arena erupted with cheers following the conclusion of the Wild power play.
“We take a ton of pride in [our penalty kill],” Brayden McNabb said. “It's been off-and-on as of late and we wanted to fix it. [Laurent Brossoit] played awesome and made some big saves.”
In the waning seconds of the second period, Reilly Smith came up with a steal in the neutral zone. Smith entered the zone with Jonathan Marchessault two-on-one, and Marchessault scored with seven seconds left in the period to give Vegas a 3-0 lead heading into intermission.
The Wild made things interesting in the third. Thanks to some great work by Kaprizov, Jared Spurgeon scored just one minute and 20 seconds into the period to cut the deficit to two. With 6:25 remaining in the game Ryan Hartman got the Wild within one score.
The Wild pressed for the equalizer following Hartman’s goal. But despite a six-on-four power play in the final minute, they were unable to find it. The VGK walked away with a 3-2 victory and their seventh win in their last nine games.
Brossoit, who started in place of Robin Lehner, was a major reason as to why the Golden Knights won. Especially in the second period, when the team got into some penalty trouble, Brossoit came up with massive stops to keep the Wild at bay.
“It was great [to get that win],” Brossoit said. “This is the most fun building I have ever been a part of…it feels good to get that first regular season win in this arena.”
Despite the win, the Golden Knights did not escape this game completely unscathed. In the first period, Alec Martinez took a skate blade across the face, forcing him to get more than 50 stitches to sew up the wound. DeBoer said it was an “ugly, ugly cut” and that it “rattled the team”. It is unknown how much time Martinez will miss, but it is highly unlikely he will be back for the next few games.
The Golden Knights homestand continues Nov. 13, as they face off against the Vancouver Canucks. Puck drop for that game is at 7 p.m. and can be viewed on AT&T Sportsnet.
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