Wild 4, Golden Knights 2: Three Goals in Seven First-Period Minutes End Vegas's Streak
Minnesota buried Vegas early, killed all five Golden Knights power plays and rode Jesper Wallstedt to a win that snapped a four-game Vegas run — though Nico Sturm's early exit soured the night.
Special teams are carrying the Minnesota Wild through October, and on Monday night in St. Paul they flattened one of the league's hottest teams. The Wild beat the Vegas Golden Knights 4-2 at Grand Casino Arena, ending Vegas's four-game winning streak and improving to 4-1-1, per NHL.com.
Seven minutes that decided it
The game was effectively won between the 11th and 17th minutes. Matt Boldy banged in the rebound of his own shot at 11:50, with new arrival Quinn Hughes assisting to stretch his season-opening point streak to six games — tied for the sixth-longest by an American-born defenseman in NHL history, according to NHL.com. Maxim Shabanov made it 2-0 on the power play at 14:32, and Danila Yurov added a third at 16:57.
Vegas clawed back within one in the second on a Rasmus Andersson point shot and a William Karlsson finish off a 2-on-1 with Brett Howden, but never drew level. Jesper Wallstedt stopped 21 shots, and Joel Eriksson Ek sealed it into the empty net with 1:22 left. Carter Hart made 24 saves for Vegas, and Mitch Marner picked up his 60th assist as a Golden Knight — the fastest player in franchise history to reach that mark.
The special-teams gap
Minnesota killed all five Vegas power plays, lifting its penalty kill to 21-for-22 on the season, and has now scored a power-play goal in all six games — tying a franchise record. That gap was the whole margin: five-on-five, Vegas (5-2-0) largely hung around.
The caveat for Minnesota: forward Nico Sturm left in the first period after taking a puck up high and was taken to a hospital. Coach John Hynes called the move precautionary, with no further update, per the Star Tribune.