A three-goal outburst in the first period propelled the Minnesota Wild to a 4-2 victory against the Vegas Golden Knights on Monday at Grand Casino Arena.
Matt Boldy opened the scoring at 11:50 of the first period, beating Carter Hart with a wrist shot off assists from Olli Maatta and Quinn Hughes. Less than three minutes later, Maxim Shabanov scored on a wrist shot during a power play with Hughes adding his second assist of the frame. Danila Yurov capped the first-period surge at 16:57 with a snap shot, assisted by Bobby Brink and Rieger Lorenz, to push Minnesota ahead 3-0.
The Golden Knights began their rally early in the second period when Rasmus Andersson scored his first goal of the season on a slap shot at 2:37, set up by Tomas Hertl and Raphael Lavoie. William Karlsson pulled Vegas within one at 9:25 of the third period with his first goal of the season, finishing on a snap shot assisted by Brett Howden and Mitch Marner. Joel Eriksson Ek secured the victory with his first goal of the year, sliding a wrist shot into an empty net at 18:38 with Kirill Kaprizov earning the assist.
Jesper Wallstedt earned the win in net for Minnesota by stopping 21 of 23 shots, while Hart took the loss with 24 saves on 27 shots faced. Special teams heavily favored the Wild, who converted their lone power-play opportunity and killed off all five power plays awarded to the Golden Knights.
The win extended the Wild's winning streak to two games and brought their regular-season record to 4-1-1. With the defeat, Vegas fell to 5-2-0 on the season and dropped the first matchup of the season series against Minnesota.
Minnesota continues its schedule at home on Sunday, October 18, when it hosts the Columbus Blue Jackets. The Golden Knights will return to action on Tuesday, October 20, when they host the Tampa Bay Lightning.
