National Hockey League
Vegas 3, Minnesota 2
When: 10:00 PM ET, Tuesday, December 17, 2019
Where: T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada
Referees: Tom Chmielewski, Brad Meier
Linesmen: Greg Devorski, Travis Toomey
Attendance: 18220

Tomas Nosek scored what scored what proved to be the game-winning goal early in the third period, and Marc-Andre Fleury made 24 saves to lead the Vegas Golden Knights to a 3-2 victory over the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday night in Las Vegas.

Shea Theodore and Chandler Stephenson also scored goals, and Mark Stone added two assists for Vegas. The Golden Knights extended their home win streak to three games, their longest of the season, while improving to 8-2-1 in their past 11 games. They also have won three in a row overall.

It was the 453rd career victory for Fleury, moving him within one of Curtis Joseph for sixth place in NHL history.

Mats Zuccarello and Zach Parise scored for Minnesota, which lost for the first time in its history in four games played in Las Vegas. Alex Stalock finished with 26 saves.

Minnesota took advantage of Vegas penalties on Reilly Smith for tripping and Stone for interference within a 23-second span to score its first five-on-three goal of the season en route to a 1-0 lead late in the first period. Zuccarello took a cross-crease pass from Eric Staal and then fired a bad-angle shot from below the left circle under Fleury's right arm for his eighth goal of the season.

Stephenson tied it midway through the second period, finishing a two-on-one with Stone with a one-timer from the right circle that beat Stalock on his glove side.

Vegas then took a 2-1 lead with 10 seconds left in the period on Theodore's fourth goal of the season. Stone once again set up the goal, winning the puck along the left boards and then passing to Theodore, who crept in and then beat Stalock with a wrist shot from the middle of the right circle.

Nosek made it 3-1 at the 6:16 mark of the third period with his first goal in 14 games, firing a wrist shot from the middle of the left circle that redirected off the stick of Wild defenseman Carson Soucy and over Stalock's left shoulder into the top far corner of the net.

The Wild pulled Stalock with 2:42 remaining, and Parise cut the deficit to 3-2 with 1:15 left when he knocked in a rebound of a Kevin Fiala shot from the right doorstep. But the Wild managed just a Matt Dumba shot that Fleury saved easily after that.

--Field Level Media

Top Game Performances
 
Minnesota   Vegas
Zach Parise 1 Points Mark Stone 2
Zach Parise 1 Goals Tomas Nosek 1
Matt Dumba 1 Assists Mark Stone 2
Mats Zuccarello 1 Power Play Goals N/A
N/A Short Handed Goals N/A
Alex Stalock .897 Save Percentage Marc-Andre Fleury .923
Alex Stalock 26 Saves Marc-Andre Fleury 24
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Shots Goals Power Play Penalty Kill Penalty Mins Face Offs Won
Minnesota 26 2 1-5 1-1 2 24
Vegas 29 3 0-1 4-5 10 31
Upcoming Games
  • Vegas will play their next game on the road against Vancouver. The Golden Knights have a W/L % of .526 after a win and .500 after a loss.
  • Minnesota will play their next game on the road against Arizona. The Wild have a W/L % of .438 after a win and .474 after a loss.