FSM Essential Recap: Golden Knights vs Wild - Game 53 - 2023

FSM Essential Recap: Golden Knights vs Wild – Game 53 – 2023

Franchise Sports Media

Vegas Golden Knights (31-18-4)  | Minnesota Wild  (27-20-4)

 

The Golden Knights close out their road trip with another dominant win, defeating the Minnesota Wild, 5-1. 

 

In the last three games for the Vegas Golden Knights, head coach Bruce Cassidy has formed the new line of William Carrier, Chandler Stephenson, and Phill Kessel, and so far, it has paid off. The line so far has a combined five goals, six assists, and 25 shots.

The newly formed line has put in some work, and Vegas was looking to end their road trip on a high note when they played against the Minnesota Wild at Xcel Energy Center.

The Golden Knights started the first period with high-tempo generating shots and good puck possession. At the 7-minute mark of the first period, Vegas got on the board first, 1-0, when Nicolas Roy scored by shooting a wrist shot from the high slot shooting pass former Golden Knight Marc-Andre Fleury. 

The Wild were completely losing in the shots battle, as the first period ended 1-0, still in favor of Vegas.

In the second period, Vegas did not come off their energy as Alex Pietrangelo scored a tip-in shot after taking advantage of a turnover at the blue line to extend the lead 2-0. 

“The last month, it seems like we haven’t been taking advantage of [opponent’s mistakes], and we just kept on trying to grind and do the right things, and we’re starting to get rewarded,” Vegas forward Reilly Smith says. “So, we’ve just got to keep that positivity going and the work ethic, and hopefully, we can keep on building too.”

But a few minutes later, the Golden Knights found themselves in penalty trouble after Chandler Stephenson got called for holding, which resulted in a power play for the Wild.

 

The Wild were on the power play, but Vegas was determined to close out Minnesota’s scoring chances.

 

The power play for the Wild did not last long at all when Kirill Kaprizov scored just 13 seconds in to make it a one-goal game, 2-1.

But just almost midway in the second, Paul Cotter scored his 9th goal of the season after receiving a feed pass from Jack Eichel, shooting from the slot to extend the lead again 3-1.

“You want to try and separate yourself,” Eichel said. “They get that power-play goal, and you just want to work to get that next goal, and I thought we did a good job doing that. You want to play with a lead. You don’t want to sit back and let them get back in the game. I thought we pressed to get the next goal, and we were able to get a few.”

Vegas was still primed to extend the lead even further when Reilly Smith was awarded a penalty shot after getting hooked on a breakaway from Wild defenseman Alex Goligoski. The penalty shot for Smith paid off when his shot trickled in past Fleury to give Vegas a 3-goal lead of 4-1.

The 3-goal lead for the Golden Knights was not enough. Just 20 seconds later, Jack Eichel scored after firing a wrist shot from the right side to extend the score further by 5-1. 

But just 1:19 in the third period, Vegas endeared a scary moment when Logan Thompson left the game with an apparent left leg injury, and Adin Hill came in to replace him. 

“He’s moving around, but we’ll get an MRI in the morning,” Vegas head coach Bruce Cassidy said of Thompson. “We’ll have a much better idea, and hopefully, we get good news. I mean, we’ve been injured at every position this year, so it almost feels like, hopefully, this is a quick one, but I don’t know until tomorrow.”

Despite the unfortunate injury to Thompson, the Golden Knights held on to close out the game and secure the victory 5-1 over the Minnesota Wild.

Takeaway

 

 The Golden Knights will return home on Sunday as they face the Anaheim Ducks at T-Mobile Arena. They are scheduled to drop the puck at noon. The game can be seen on  AT&T SportsNet (channel 313 on Cox Cable) or heard on 98.9 FM, FOX Sports Las Vegas 1340 AM.