It was a near-perfect road trip for the Vegas Golden Knights. With their playoff position teetering after a run of bad luck, injuries, and try-hard losses, the Golden Knights won three of four games and earned points in all four games on their road trip through the Central Division. The VGK rallied to beat the Minnesota Wild 2-1 in overtime Saturday afternoon at the Xcel Energy Center.
Minnesota badly needed the extra point, so they again pulled their goalie in overtime, effectively pushing all of their chips to the middle of the table. If a team pulls their goalie in overtime, they do not get the loser points.
Jonathan Marchessault (40) buried the 160-foot shot into the empty net for the game-winner at 3:30 of overtime. The Golden Knights got two points, and Minnesota got none.
“We talked after the third period that they may pull their goalie, and sure enough, it landed on Jonathan Money Marchessault’s stick,” said coach Bruce Cassidy, who had a little chirp for his winger, too, saying now he’ll probably want to be on the penalty kill and “get Selke votes.”
Exit Minnesota stage left from the wild-card race. The Golden Knights now lead Minnesota by 10 points with eight games remaining. Any combination of the Golden Knights winning nine points or Minnesota losing nine points means Minnesota cannot catch the VGK.
The Golden Knights needed a trio of overtime games on the road trip but now lead the St. Louis Blues, the first team out of the playoff seedings, by eight points. The Golden Knights’ magic number to ensure themselves a playoff spot by distancing themselves from St. Louis is 11.
Once again, things look pretty good for the postseason.
The game was not smooth sailing for the Golden Knights. Top center Jack Eichel was ejected at 14:13 of the second period. Eichel speared Minnesota star winger Kirill Kaprizov at the defensive blue line. After a review, Eichel was given a five-minute major penalty and a Game Misconduct.
Minnesota scored on the resulting power play, as the hockey gods enjoyed a little bit of poetic justice. Minnesota forward Matt Bouldy danced around the Golden Knights penalty killers at the blue line and shoveled a backhand pass to Kaprizov at full speed. Kaprizov (37) deked Golden Knights Logan Thompson for the first goal.
However, Thompson was stellar throughout the game, stopping 32 of 33 shots. According to NaturalStatTrick.com, Minnesota had a decided advantage in high-danger scoring chances, 10-4. Indeed, the Golden Knights didn’t get many shots between the dots or rebound chances at even strength.
Minnesota goalie Filip Gustavsson stopped 29 of 30 but wasn’t in the net for the winner.
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