Game Recap: Golden Knights 2, Wild 1

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Jonathan Marchessault scored 3:30 into overtime for the Vegas Golden Knights, who extended their point streak to six games with a 2-1 win against the Minnesota Wild at Xcel Energy Center on Saturday.

Marchessault scored an empty-net goal after the Wild pulled goalie Filip Gustavsson for an extra attacker. The move forfeited Minnesota’s additional point gained by reaching overtime.

“You kind of know that they definitely need that extra point, right,” Marchessault said. “(Head coach) Bruce (Cassidy) I think mentioned it before overtime to be aware if it happens. Obviously, we kind of know their players there and if we kind of just play in front of (Kirill) Kaprizov and (Matt) Boldy there, I think it limits their shooter to get their shot through.

“We were able to make the right play at the right time, and I just think it was a good overall game.”

The Wild pulled goalie Marc-Andre Fleury and scored with the man-advantage in a 4-3 overtime win against the Nashville Predators on March 10.

“We needed two points,” Gustavsson said. “We weren’t going to be happy with one point. It didn’t go our way. It is what it is.”

Michael Amadio also scored, and Logan Thompson made 32 saves for Vegas (41-25-8), which is 5-0-1 in its past six.

“You’re going into the third and at the end of a road trip, so you’re going to have to dig down a little. We did. We did,” Cassidy said. “We’re a winning team for a reason. So, I think limiting to one goal, obviously you like to keep the scoresheet clean, but I think we felt pretty good about that. We’re still in the game, and let’s get back to our game and eventually we found a way to score a goal.”

Kaprizov scored, and Gustavsson made 29 saves for Minnesota (35-29-9), which is 2-2-1 in its past five games. 

“Where we’re at in the standings and where it goes, you're trying to put your team in the best position to win the hockey game,” Minnesota coach John Hynes said. “And in our opinion, putting Kaprizov, (Mats) Zuccarello, (Joel Eriksson) Ek and Boldy against three players on the ice gives us the best chance to win a game.

“When you look at our situation, we have to win games and get two points, and we have to get help from other teams. So, the decision was made to give the team the best chance to win the hockey game.”

Kaprizov gave Minnesota a 1-0 lead at 16:44 of the second period with a power-play goal. He took a return pass from Boldy and beat Thompson with a snap shot in the slot.

The goal came after Vegas forward Jack Eichel was assessed a five-minute major and game misconduct for spearing Kaprizov at 14:03.

Amadio tied it 1-1 at 13:43 of the third period. Chandler Stephenson took a stretch pass from Alec Martinez at the blue line, skated into the offensive zone and fed a trailing Amadio for a one-timer in the slot.

“It was just one goal,” Stephenson said. “We’re playing a good game to that point. To only give up one on a five-minute power play with a good power play, that was kind of momentum for us. I know that they obviously had momentum, but yeah, I think there’s momentum for us and just tried to give him everything we had in the third there and, you know, good goal by (Amadio) to put it away.”

NOTES: Marchessault became the second skater to reach 40 goals in a season in franchise history, joining William Karlsson in 2017-18. … Vegas defenseman Alex Pietrangelo had two shots on goal, three blocked shots and was plus-2 in 23:11 of ice time in his return after missing six games with an illness. … Wild forward Marcus Foligno missed his second straight game with a lower-body injury. … Kaprizov has 24 goals since Jan. 15, third-most in the NHL behind Auston Matthews (26) and Zach Hyman (25).