LAS VEGAS (AP) — Jack Eichel, Nicolas Roy and Pavel Dorofeyev each scored a goal and an assist, Chandler Stephenson had four assists and the Vegas Golden Knights beat the Minnesota Wild 7-2 on Friday night to clinch a spot in the playoffs for the sixth time in seven seasons.
Jonathan Marchessault, Tomas Hertl, William Karlsson and Keegan Kolesar also scored goals. Noah Hanifin added two assists for the Golden Knights and Logan Thompson made 25 saves.
The Golden Knights will have a chance to defend their Stanley Cup championship after the combined win with St. Louis 5-2 loss to Carolina. Vegas is the second wild card in the Western Conference, one point behind Los Angeles for third place in the Pacific Division.
“You don’t want to be or say we were stressed, but we knew we had to win a game and we felt confident about that tonight,” Stephenson said.
Stephenson had four assists for the third time in his career and the first time this season, reaching the 50-point mark for the third straight season.
Hertl’s goal was his first since being acquired from São José on March 8th.
“It was a great feeling,” Hertl said. “I’m happier about being able to make the playoffs today, but I feel really good about scoring the first one in the building because it’s so much fun to play here.”
Marat Khusnutdinov and Ryan Hartman scored for the Wild. Marc-Andre Fleury had a rough night facing his former team, allowing all seven goals on 30 shots, the most he has given up since Dallas scored eight goals against him on Nov. 12. the crowd even shouted his name several times in the third period.
The Golden Knights scored three goals on special teams, including two on power games for the third time in five games.
It was a festive night for Las Vegas. Fans, including San Francisco 49ers star Christian McCaffrey, wearing an Eichel jersey, were ready to party as the Knights not only clinched another playoff spot, but also snapped a three-game losing streak.
“It’s a resilient group,” Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said. “I think the process of getting here has had some ups and downs this year. … I think we were able to put most of those (down) days behind us and focus on what’s next. We did a good job this year.”
The Wild, already in contention for the postseason, lost five of seven games.
“We have to be a lot better than that against any team,” Wild coach John Hynes said. “It doesn’t matter who you play with, so we will have a good discussion tomorrow.”
The Knights scored on three of their first shots, two of them on special teams. Roy scored his first career shorthanded goal and it was the second game in a row the Knights had man-marked – the first time this season. Dorofeyev and Eichel each scored from the left circle, the latter scoring a single time on a power play.
Both teams traded power-play goals in the second period. Minnesota’s Khusnutdinov scored his first career goal, and Marchessault responded with his 42nd of the second, moving within one of Karlsson’s single-season franchise records.
The Knights struck in the third period, defeating the Wild 3-1. After Kolesar’s goal, Fleury angrily knocked the puck out of the net.
This was a banner night for three Wild players. Jonas Brodin appeared in his 800th career game, Matt Boldy in his 200th and Marco Rossi in his 100th. This was the first game of Liam Ohgren’s career.
NEXT
Wild: In San Jose on Saturday.
Golden Knights: Host Colorado on Sunday.
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