After a year of crushing the opposition to gain the playoffs, the Vegas Golden Knights backed into the post season this campaign.
On Friday night, the Knights lost to the visiting Minnesota Wild, 3-2, but clinched a playoff berth with a loss by the Arizona Coyotes in Denver.
Eric Staal had a goal for the Wild – file photo by Lewis Bleiman
“I’m real happy. I may not look it right now, but it’s an 82-game schedule and you try to make the playoffs,” Golden Knights coach Gerard Gallant said. “That’s what your goal is. We would’ve loved to win the hockey game tonight … but we made the playoffs tonight, so that’s a big accomplishment.”
Eric Staal, Greg Pateryn and Kevin Fiala had the Wild strikes for a 3-0 lead in the middle frame.
Devan Dubnyk made 35 saves to get the win for the Wild who are four back of the Colorado Avalanche for the second wild card spot.
“I thought we had a good mindset,” Dubnyk said. “You’ve got to have that sense of urgency and understanding it’s a must-win game, but we can’t change what we’re doing. We all know what we need to do to be able to play, and we did that.”
Paul Stastny scored twice for the Knights after the Wild had built their 3-0 lead.
“You look at the third period, I think we were really dominant, but you can’t get behind in this league,” Golden Knights forward Mark Stone said. “It’s too good of a league to give the other team goals. We can’t put ourselves in those situations.”
[WATCH: Wild vs. Golden Knights highlights]
Malcolm Subban made 29 saves in the loss.
“For sure [it’s bittersweet],” Stone said. “I think every team’s goal at the start of the season is to make the postseason. We’re obviously excited to be in there, but we want to play better hockey.”
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