On The Strip, the Minnesota Wild were unable to keep up wit the Golden Knights’ offense on Sunday night, and lost 6-4.
Five different skaters hit for goals for the Knights.
Chandler Stephenson collected four assists in the win.
“I think she was helping me tonight with that one,” Stephenson said. “It’s tough, and [it has] been a sad couple of days, but I’ve had a lot of support here. [The] team, staff, players, everybody was there for me. It helps you get through it. It was a special night, for sure.”
Zach Whitecloud struck for a pair of goals for Vegas.
The Golden Knights improved to 16-11-0.
“It’s always tough to see teammates go through stuff like that,” Vegas’ Mark Stone (goal) said of Stephenson. “It’s emotional for all of us. To get him back, and for him to put on that kind of performance together for us, was inspirational and something we needed as a team. Real character for Chandler to fly back and be with the team. [It] shows his resiliency.”
Robin Lehner made 23 saves. in the Vegas win.
“I think today wasn’t our best,” the Wild’s Mats Zuccarello (goal) said. “We know this team is a fast team, we gave them too many odd-man rushes, losing pucks in bad areas, giving them those chances.”
The Wild dropped to 19-8-1.
Vegas took an early lead off Whitecloud’s first of the night, but Alex Goligoski tied it, 1-1.
Vegas’ Evgenii Dadonov and Zuccarello traded goals to end the first period tied, 2-2.
The Wild took a 3-2 lead off a goal from Nick Bjugstad, with just nine seconds gone in the middle frame, but Vegas replied with two goals.
Whitecloud tied the the game at 3-3, and Max Pacioretty gave the Knights a 4-3 lead.
“Us six guys on the back end want to contribute as much as possible in any offensive way, whether that’s scoring goals, or creating chances, or being on the forecheck,” Whitecloud said.
The Wild got even with a strike from Marcus Foligno t in the third, but Stone scored to put the Golden Knights ahead, 5-4.
“The penalty kill well, they block a lot of shots, they’re dedicated to that game. Unfortunately, they got a power play at the end and it ended up being the game-winner,” Foligno said. “Our 5-on-5 game was really good, especially on the back-to-back, and we definitely came close to tying it up.”
Alex Pietrangelo hit for an empty-net goal for the 6-4 final.
“It was a big win,” Stone said. “Obviously, Friday wasn’t our best. We had a chance to win that game, but we didn’t have that killer instinct. Tonight, I don’t think we let anything rattle us.”
Cam Talbot made 30 saves in the Minnesota loss.
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