Minnesota came out with the sharper edge Monday, hanging three first-period goals on Vegas before holding off a second-period push for a 4-2 win at Grand Casino Arena in St. Paul. Matt Boldy, Maxim Shabanov and Danila Yurov built the cushion, and Jesper Wallstedt turned aside 21 shots as the Wild improved to 4-1-1.
Key takeaways
- The Wild are 2-0-0 on home ice after stopping Vegas’ four-game winning streak.
- Quinn Hughes recorded two assists and has opened the season with points in six straight games.
- Rieger Lorenz earned his first NHL point, assisting on Yurov’s first-period goal in his second game.
- Vegas pulled within a goal in the second period, but Joel Eriksson Ek sealed Minnesota’s win with an empty-net goal.
- Wild forward Nico Sturm left after taking a puck up high late in the opening period and did not return.
Minnesota’s first-period burst sets the tone
Boldy opened the scoring at 11:50 of the first period. His first attempt deflected off a Golden Knights defender in the slot, but Boldy stayed with the play and buried the rebound for a 1-0 lead.
Hughes picked up an assist on the goal, extending his opening-season scoring run to six games. The streak is tied for the sixth longest to begin a season by an American-born NHL defenseman and is the longest such run since John-Michael Liles reached nine games in 2010-11.
Minnesota doubled the margin on the power play at 14:32. Shabanov sent a shot through a screen from the top of the right circle, beating Carter Hart to make it 2-0.
The Wild struck again at 16:57, with Yurov finishing from the back door after Bobby Brink found him alone near the net. Brink collected his fourth assist of the season, while Lorenz had the secondary helper for his first career NHL point. Minnesota had a 3-0 lead before the first intermission.
Sturm was injured with 2:14 remaining in the period when he was struck high by a Jared Spurgeon shot coming through traffic. He needed help from a trainer and a teammate as he left the ice slowly, and the forward did not return because of an upper-body injury.
Vegas closes the gap, but Wallstedt and Wild finish it
The Golden Knights, now 5-2-0, found a route back into the game early in the second. Rasmus Andersson blasted a point shot past Wallstedt at 2:37 to put Vegas on the board.
William Karlsson cut the deficit to one at 9:25. He joined Brett Howden on a 2-on-1 rush, took the puck into the high slot and snapped it home to make it 3-2.
That was as close as Vegas would get. Wallstedt finished with 21 saves, while Hart stopped 24 shots for the Golden Knights. Eriksson Ek put the result away with an empty-net goal with 1:22 left, restoring the two-goal margin and closing out Minnesota’s 4-2 victory.
