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
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 | 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 |