Reilly Smith scored the game-winner in the fifth round of a shootout and Pavel Dorofeyev netted two goals in regulation during the Vegas Golden Knights’ 4-3 victory over the Minnesota Wild on Monday in Saint Paul, Minn.
Despite the defeat, the Wild clinched a playoff berth thanks to the point for the overtime loss plus the Nashville Predators’ 5-1 loss to the Dallas Stars.
After Joel Eriksson Ek and Dorofeyev traded goals in the fourth round of the shootout, Vegas goaltender Laurent Brossoit made a blocker save on Ryan Hartman to start the fifth round. Smith then put a backhander through the pads of Minnesota goalie Filip Gustavsson to win it and also give the Golden Knights a three-game sweep of their season series with the Wild.
William Karlsson had two assists and Keegan Kolesar also scored for Vegas (48-22-7, 103 points), which increased its Pacific Division lead to three points over the idle Los Angeles Kings. Brossoit finished with 30 saves.
Matt Boldy scored his 30th goal of the season and also had an assist and Brandon Duhaime and John Klingberg also scored goals for Minnesota (44-23-10, 98 points). Gustavsson stopped 23 shots.
Vegas, which won the front half of the home-and-home with the Wild 4-1 on Saturday in Las Vegas, took a 1-0 lead midway through the first period on Monday.
Kolesar, stationed in front of the right side of the crease, tipped Ben Hutton’s point shot over Gustavsson’s left shoulder for his career-high eighth goal of the season.
Minnesota tied it at the 3:36 mark of the second period. Duhaime broke down the left wing and fired a wrist shot past Brossoit’s glove side for his ninth goal.
Klingberg then gave the Wild a 2-1 lead with a power-play goal. He dragged the puck in front of the blue line before snapping a wrist shot through traffic into the top right corner of the net at 13:57 of the second.
The Golden Knights tied it when Dorofeyev, a late addition to the lineup when center Chandler Stephenson was scratched due to illness, blasted a one-timer from the top of the left circle off a drop pass from Smith inside the near left post at 16:34 of the second.
The Wild regained the lead with just 41 seconds to go in the period. Boldy tapped Eriksson Ek’s crossing pass at the end of a give-and-go into a wide-open right side of the net for his 13th goal in 12 games.
Vegas pulled Brossoit for an extra attacker with 2:15 remaining and Dorofeyev, left alone in the slot, tied it with 34.2 seconds left when he slapped a touch pass from Karlssson past Gustavsson’s blocker side.
–Field Level Media
