Joel Eriksson Ek tallies twice as Wild take down Knights

Field Level Media|published: Tue 13th February, 01:09 2024

Feb 12, 2024; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; Minnesota Wild left wing Matt Boldy (12) keeps the puck away from Vegas Golden Knights center Ivan Barbashev (49) during the first period at T-Mobile Arena. credits: Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports

Joel Eriksson Ek scored two goals and Matt Boldy had a goal and two assists to lead the Minnesota Wild to a 5-3 victory over the Vegas Golden Knights on Monday night in Las Vegas.

Marco Rossi and Mats Zuccarello also scored goals and Kirill Kaprizov, Brock Faber and Ryan Hartman and each had two assists for Minnesota, which won its third straight game. Filip Gustavsson made 27 saves for the Wild, who extended their road winning streak to four games.

Mark Stone, Jonathan Marchessault and Michael Amadio scored goals for Vegas, which had a four-game home win streak snapped. Alex Pietrangelo, playing in his 1,000th NHL game, added two assists. Vegas goalie Adin Hill finished with 24 saves.

Vegas needed just 22 seconds to take a 1-0 on Marchessault's 27th goal of the season. Marchessault was attempting a crossing pass from the bottom of the left circle, and the puck deflected off Faber's stick and fluttered over Gustavsson's left shoulder and into the net.

Minnesota bounced back to take a 2-1 lead in the middle of the period.

Zuccarello tied the game during a five-on-three power play when he one-timed a Kaprizov pass from the bottom of the right circle inside the right post at 10:48. Eriksson Ek followed by backhanding a Boldy pass over Hill's right pad at 12:09.

The Golden Knights tied it 2-2 at 17:45 of the first on a power-play goal. Amadio fired a wrist shot from the right point through traffic and through Gustavsson's pads.

Minnesota took a 4-2 lead in the third period with two goals in the span of 61 seconds. Rossi got the first when he jammed the rebound of a Boldy shot under Hill's right pad at 6:28. Boldy followed with a shot from the right goal line that caromed in off Hill's left shoulder and into the net.

Vegas cut it to 4-3 midway through the period when Stone roofed a slap shot from the top of the right circle for his first goal in nine games.

The Golden Knights pulled Hill for an extra attacker with 2:35 remaining, and Eriksson Ek sealed the win by notching an empty-net goal with 21.6 seconds to go.

—Field Level Media