LAS VEGAS (AP) — Pavel Dorofeyev had two power-play goals and added an assist and the Vegas Golden Knights broke open a tie game with three third-period goals to beat the Minnesota Wild 4-1 on Sunday night.
The Golden Knights joined Washington and Winnipeg atop the NHL with 61 points, avoiding their first three-game losing streak of the season.
Tomas Hertl added a goal and an assist, Keegan Kolesar scored the tiebreaker and Mark Stone and Shea Theodore each had two assists. Adin Hill made 15 saves.
Ryan Hartman scored for the Wild. Filip Gustavsson stopped 32 shots.
Jack Eichel, who leads the Golden Knights with 54 points, did not play because of an illness. Vegas, however, got back center Nicolas Roy after he missed 11 games because of an upper-body injury.
Unless these teams meet in the postseason, this was Wild goalie Marc-Andre Fleury's final game at T-Mobile Arena. Fleury played for the Golden Knights from their inaugural season in 2017-18 until 2021 and still is arguably the most popular player in the franchise's short history.
He didn't play against his old club, but was cheered and fans chanted his name in pregame, when the Golden Knights saluted him on the video board at the first timeout and in the final minutes.
Takeaways
Wild: After taking a 1-0 lead, Minnesota was not able to capitalize on the lead. The Wild were outshot 17-6 in the second period as the Golden Knights began to seize control.
Golden Knights: Both of Dorofeyev's goals were on the power play, giving Vegas four in four games.
Key moment
Kolesar scored off Zach Whitecloud's rebound to put the Golden Knights ahead 2-1 4:09 into the third period.
Key stat
3 hours, 43 minutes — The time between five-on-five goals for the Golden Knights when Kolesar scored in the third.
Up next
The Wild host Edmonton on Wednesday night. The Golden Knights are at Nashville on Tuesday night.
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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
Mark Anderson, The Associated Press
