In Las Vegas, the Golden Knights continued to make the rest of the Pacific Division play follow the leader on Saturday night in a 4-1 win over the Minnesota Wild.
Matt Boldy scored in the first period to give the Wild a 1-0 lad, and from there it was Vegas.
Laurent Brossoit made 29 saves in the Knights win.
“Anytime you can get a few saves under your belt in the first period, it transfers through the rest of the game. It happened tonight,” Brossoit said. “I want to be the guy. I’m just looking to keep performing like this and keep building and building.”
Vegas moved to 47-22-7, and snapped a two-game skid. They held their two-point lead over second place Edmonton Oilers, and are three points clear of the LA Kings.
Ben Hutton tied the game, 1-1, midway through the first period.
“I was trying to stay positive and patient as long as I could,” said Hutton, who has played in three of the past four games after not playing since Jan. 28. “I got the opportunity a few games back. I’m trying to make the most of it.”
Minnesota dropped to 44-23-9, their lead in the Central is down to one point over the Colorado Avalanche and Dallas Stars.
“We had plenty of opportunities to score in this hockey game, but having said that, we didn’t like our energy,” Wild coach Dean Evason said. “It’s a couple of different reasons. We believe a little letdown from Colorado (a 4-2 win on Wednesday), possibly, but maybe it’s Vegas. But we didn’t have the pop that we had for a while.”
Zach Whitecloud scored a shot from the left side with less than four minutes to go in the opening stanza for a 2-1 lead to Vegas.
The Golden Knights picked up some breathing room in the early minutes of the middle frame when Brett Howden scored a 3-1 advantage.
Chandler Stephenson added an empty-net goal with just over a minute left in the game for the 4-1 final.
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Marc-Andre Fleury made 39 saves in the loss.
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