Jonathan Marchessault scored an empty-net goal with 1:30 remaining in overtime to lift the Vegas Golden Knights to a 2-1 win over the Minnesota Wild on Saturday afternoon in St. Paul, Minn.
Michael Amadio also scored for Vegas (41-25-8), which increased its season total to 90 points and strengthened its playoff positioning. The Golden Knights improved to 5-0-1 in their past six games.
Kirill Kaprizov scored the lone goal for Minnesota (35-28-10, 79 points). The Wild, in a desperate move to try to gain two points for a playoff push, pulled their goaltender for an extra skater in overtime but the strategy backfired with an empty-net goal.
Vegas goaltender Logan Thompson stopped 32 of 33 shots to get the win.
Minnesota netminder Filip Gustavsson turned aside 29 of 30 shots.
The game remained scoreless for more than 36 minutes.
Kaprizov put the Wild on top 1-0 with a power-play goal with 3:16 remaining in the second period. Matt Boldy carried the puck into the offensive zone and flipped a backhand pass to Kaprizov, who turned to his forehand and lifted a shot into the net.
The play marked Kaprizov’s team-leading 37th goal of the season. He continued a torrid stretch in which he has tallied 11 goals and eight assists in his past 12 games.
The Wild power play was a result of a significant penalty called on Golden Knights forward Jack Eichel, who received a five-minute major and a game misconduct for spearing Kaprizov with 5:57 to go in the second period.
Eichel apparently was upset at Kaprizov, who had delivered a hard check against him away from the puck. Eichel responded by finding Kaprizov away from the puck and lifting the blade of his stick into Kaprizov’s right armpit.
The spearing major along with the game misconduct gave Eichel 15 penalty minutes for the game. He entered Sunday with 10 penalty minutes in 54 games this season.
Vegas pulled even at 1-1 with 6:17 remaining in the third period. Chandler Stephenson fed a perfect pass to Amadio, who blasted a one-timer past Gustavsson for his 13th goal.
–Field Level Media
