Golden Knights hold off first-place Minnesota Wild
Prior to Saturday’s practice, Golden Knights owner Bill Foley met with the team and showed an inspirational video about the military.
The purpose was to share his pride ahead of the Army-Navy football game, but it also motivated the Knights against the Minnesota Wild.
Led by their struggling special teams, the Knights showed plenty of resolve Sunday by pulling out an emotional 6-4 victory in front of an announced crowd of 18,001 at T-Mobile Arena.
“We’re there to back each other up,” winger Max Pacioretty said. “We watched that and it’s kind of an eye-opener to how fortunate we are to do what we do for a living. But at the end of the day, this is a special group and we know we’ll be there for each other.”
Captain Mark Stone scored the go-ahead goal on power play at 4:42 of the third period, and defenseman Zach Whitecloud had two goals.
The Knights scored twice on the power play and overcame a one-goal deficit early in the second period to finish their homestand 3-1.
Pacioretty scored for the sixth straight game and extended his point streak to eight games, putting the Knights ahead 4-3 in the second period on a breakaway.
Evgenii Dadonov had a power-play goal in the first period, and defenseman Alex Pietrangelo added an empty-net goal with 28 seconds left to play.
Minnesota, which leads the Western Conference in points, lost for the second straight night after seeing its eight-game winning streak snapped Saturday at Los Angeles.
The Knights have won seven of their past eight meetings against the Central Division.
Wild forward Marcus Foligno tied the score 4-4 when he cashed in a misplay by Knights goalie Robin Lehner at 1:22 of the third period.
Mats Zuccarello converted on a Minnesota power play with six-tenths of a second remaining in the first period, and Nick Bjugstad gave the Wild a 3-2 advantage nine seconds into the second period.
Defenseman Alex Goligoski also scored in the first period for Minnesota.
“It was a good team win,” Stone said. “We knew they were coming off back-to-back and if we could sustain 60 minutes, we’d be the fresher team. Overall, good performance and some momentum going into a tough (road) trip.”
Here are three takeaways from the game:
1. Heavy heart
Chandler Stephenson fought back tears as he revealed the reason he missed Friday’s game against Philadelphia was because his grandmother died.
In his first game back, he finished with a career-high four assists. He leads the Knights with 26 points in 26 games.
“I think she was helping me with that one,” Stephenson said.
Stephenson traveled to western Canada last week for the funeral and did not practice Saturday. He flew back, and coach Pete DeBoer said he was running on fumes for the game against Minnesota.
“What a tribute if you’re a hockey player to a loved one that’s passed,” DeBoer said. “To give us a game like that is pretty exceptional.”
2. Bionic hand
What did the doctors do to Whitecloud?
The defenseman underwent surgery for a broken hand he sustained Oct. 22 and returned as a modern day Al MacInnis, scoring goals like the Hall of Fame defenseman.
Whitecloud recorded his second career multi-goal game, and both have come since he returned to the lineup Nov. 18. His mom was in attendance Sunday for good measure.
It was the ninth time in team history a defenseman recorded multiple goals in a game.
“I pride myself on my defensive skills and my job on the (penalty kill), but if I can help contribute on the offensive side of the puck in any way, I think all of us back there want to be doing that every single night,” Whitecloud said.
Whitecloud has five goals in 15 games this season after scoring two in his first 68 career NHL appearances. He had a chance to complete the hat trick after jumping out of the penalty box late in the second period but was denied in tight by Wild goalie Cam Talbot.
“Honestly, it didn’t go through my mind,” Whitecloud said. “I was just trying to help the team out and obviously I didn’t get it done. But it was a good opportunity.”
3. PK comes through
After being a punching bag for the past three games, the penalty kill came through when it was needed most.
The Knights extinguished 1:17 of a five-on-three disadvantage in the second period when defensemen Nic Hague and Alex Pietrangelo went to the box. Six seconds after the penalty to Pietrangelo expired, Whitecloud was sent off for slashing and the Knights had to kill that penalty as well.
In the third period, the Knights killed off Hague’s interference penalty to maintain a one-goal lead.
They finished 5-for-6, with the lone goal being a buzzer-beater by Mats Zuccarello when he deposited a rebound with 0.6 seconds remaining in the first period.
“I think we talked about trying to get our swagger back a little on the penalty kill,” DeBoer said. “I thought we dug in and really in that second period that’s the game. We had some big efforts, big blocks and some key saves from all our people.”
Contact David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow @DavidSchoenLVRJ on Twitter.
