Jack Eichel had a goal and an assist and Reilly Smith scored on a penalty shot to help lead the Vegas Golden Knights to a 5-1 victory over the Minnesota Wild on Thursday night in Saint Paul, Minn.
Eichel’s goal was his first since Jan. 12 against Florida, snapping a nine-game goal drought, and also highlighted a four-goal second period for Vegas. Nicolas Roy, Alex Pietrangelo and Paul Cotter also scored for the Golden Knights while Jonathan Marchessault added two assists.
Logan Thompson made 23 saves to pick up his 20th victory of the season, but he had to be assisted off the ice with a left leg injury with 18:41 remaining in the game. Adin Hill finished up and made four saves.
Kirill Kaprizov scored for Minnesota, which lost its third straight game and sixth in eight.
Marc-Andre Fleury broke a tie with Terry Sawchuk for fourth place for most games played by a goaltender in NHL history with his 972nd contest. He made 18 saves on 23 shots before giving way to Filip Gustavsson at the start of the third period. Gustavsson finished with eight saves.
Roy gave Vegas a 1-0 lead at the 7:07 mark of the first period when his wrist shot from the high slot ricocheted off the shin of Wild defender Calen Addison and through Fleury’s legs. It was Roy’s 10th goal of the season.
Pietrangelo made it 2-0 early in the second period when his shot from the right point deflected off the skate of Joel Eriksson Ek past Fleury. It was his seventh goal of the season.
Minnesota, playing its third game in four days and the second half of a back-to-back that began with a 4-1 loss at Dallas on Wednesday, cut it to 2-1 at 4:37. Kaprizov backhanded in a rebound during a goalmouth scramble on a power play for his 29th goal of the season.
The Golden Knights then broke the game open with three goals in the span of 2:26 midway through the second period.
Cotter started the flurry with his ninth goal of the season, off Eichel’s backhand pass from behind the net.
Smith was then slashed by Alex Goligoski on a breakaway to earn a penalty shot. He fired a wrist shot through Fleury’s pads that slowly trickled over the goal line for his team-leading 19th goal.
Eichel made it 5-1 just 20 seconds later when he broke free down the right wing and ripped a wrist shot past Fleury’s blocker side. It was Eichel’s 16th goal of the season and first in 10 games.
–Field Level Media
