FSM Essential Recap: Golden Knights vs Wild- Game 19

The Golden Knights started off their second game against the Wild building off the momentum they gained from Monday’s matchup.

 

The Knights were buzzing early and came out with a high energy level that paid off just a couple of minutes after the opening puck drop. At 17:57, Alex Tuch opened up the scoring against his former team after receiving a well-placed pass from Cody Glass to give VGK the early lead. About two minutes after the goal, Reilly Smith nearly widened the Knight’s lead to two but rang the puck off the post. VGK killed off a pair of penalties in the first, effectively neutralizing the Wild with the extra man. This should not be surprising as VGK has the third-ranked penalty kill in the league while the Wild are ranked 31^st with the extra man.

While Vegas’ skaters dominated play for most of the first period, Fleury came through with two big-time saves to preserve his team’s lead. The first of which was a back-to-back save denying Kirill Kaprisov after giving up a rebound that went straight to the young Minnesota forward. His second clutch save came as the clock was expiring, and Minnesota was able to generate some pressure in close as Fleury robbed Jared Spurgeon to ensure his team went into the intermission with their lead intact. At one point, Vegas had held the Wild to no shots in a span of seven minutes, so it was good to see Fleury stay sharp and not be lulled to sleep.

The middle frame saw both teams find some success at even strength, though the Knights came very close to adding another powerplay goal in their stats.

The Wild almost tied the game up while the second period was still young, but a great defensive play by Dylan Coghlan kept the game even. He successfully broke up a dangerous 3 on 1 opportunity from the Wild with a great play with the stick to preserve the Knights lead. At 17:03, Pachioretty was slashed as he was the recipient of a 2 on 1 pass with the penalty most likely preventing a goal. While VGK did not convert with the extra man, Marchessault put his team up by two just four seconds after the powerplay ended, with Alex Tuch being credited with the primary assist for his second point of the night. At 10:02, the Wild finally broke through as Marcus Foligno followed through on a puck that had slipped behind Fleury to cut the Knights lead in half. With a little over a minute left in the second, Jordan Greenway took an interference penalty sending the Knights into the break with 46 seconds left of powerplay time.

The third period saw the Knights be very opportunistic as they relied on Fleury to hold it down between the pipes while scoring some timely goals.

VGK entered the final frame with a record of 7-0-0 when leading after two, so even though they got outplayed in some aspects, you could tell they were cool and calm throughout. Their confidence has been demonstrated well while on the penalty kill, as shown by VGK killing off their 18^th penalty in a row after Nic Hague took a tripping penalty with twelve minutes left. With 8:52 remaining Mark Stone notched a goal after receiving a pass from Chandler Stephenson while on a 2 on 1 to give his team a 3-1 lead. With 5:52 remaining, the Wild were outshooting the Knights 16-5 but VGK was unfazed as Chandler Stephenson further increased their lead, scoring a goal with 3:22 remaining. William Karlsson put the nail in the coffin with a little over two minutes left as he scored an empty-net goal putting to rest any hopes of a Wild comeback. The Knights continued to build momentum as they completed the two-game sweep against Minnesota and will head into San Jose on Friday in full stride.

The Vegas Golden Knights will resume play Friday evening taking on the San Jose Sharks at SAP Center. The puck drop is set for 7:30 p.m. and will be on AT&T Sportsnet and FOX Sports Las Vegas 98.9/1340.

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-D.J. Wood– Franchise Sports Media

Follow D.J. on Twitter @DJwoody97

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