The Vegas Golden Knights and Minnesota Wild will wrap up the second half of a home-and-home tonight at Xcel Energy Center.
The Golden Knights defeated the Wild 4-1 Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena in one of Vegas’ best efforts of the season.
Jillian Wagner
Laurent Brossoit stopped 29 of 30 shots, and the Golden Knights got goals from Ben Hutton, Zach Whitecloud and Michael Amadio with an empty-net tally by Chandler Stephenson, who hadn’t scored since March 9.
The only goal Brossoit surrendered came on a deflection in front as the red-hot Matt Boldy netted his 29th of the season.
It was the first time Vegas won a game after giving up the first goal since Feb. 23.
The Golden Knights and Wild sit atop their respective divisions with 101 and 97 points, respectively. Both teams have multiple teams in hot pursuit of the division title, making every point crucial.
The Kings and Oilers trail Vegas by just one and two points, respectively, though Vegas will no longer have a game in hand after tonight. For Minnesota, both the Avalanche and Stars are down by just one point, though Colorado will have two games in hand after tonight.
The Wild have a chance to clinch tonight, so Minnesota will be particularly eager to bounce back from Saturday’s loss, which was only the club’s second regulation loss in its last 22 games.
The Wild will clinch if they defeat the Golden Knights in any fashion OR if they get one point against the Golden Knights AND Nashville loses to Dallas in any fashion.
Vegas is 2-0-0 against Minnesota this season and will go for the full sweep tonight. The Golden Knights are 9-11-1 in the all-time series.
Goalie matchup
Brossoit: Brossoit was the first goalie off the ice this morning and will get his third straight start and fourth in five games. He is 3-0-3 with a 2.44 goals-against average and .920 save percentage in seven appearances this season.
Filip Gustavsson: Gustavsson will get the nod tonight after Marc-Andre Fleury started in Vegas, though both goalies have been excellent for Minnesota down the stretch. Gustavsson is 20-9-5 with a 2.01 goals-against average, .933 save percentage and three shutouts this season. He enters tonight’s game having won each of his last three starts, giving up a total of four goals in that span.
Team comparison
Players to watch
Minnesota: Boldy has 12 goals and 16 points in his last 11 games, including Minnesota’s lone goal in Saturday’s contest. Boldy is fourth on the Wild in scoring with 58 points on the season but is second in goals (29) in what has been a wildly successful sophomore campaign.
Vegas: Jack Eichel is riding a five-game point streak during which he has collected one goal and eight points, and he has four goals and 11 points in his last seven contests. He has been a difference-maker for the Golden Knights during the club’s recent push.
The Golden Knights will be back in action tomorrow night in Nashville when they take on Cody Glass and the Predators.
Projected lineups
Golden Knights
Ivan Barbashev – Jack Eichel – Jonathan Marchessault
Chandler Stephenson – William Karlsson – Nicolas Roy
Michael Amadio – Brett Howden – Phil Kessel
Paul Cotter – Teddy Blueger – Keegan Kolesar
Alec Martinez – Alex Pietrangelo
Nicolas Hague – Ben Hutton
Brayden McNabb – Zach Whitecloud
Laurent Brossoit
Jonathan Quick
Wild
Sam Steel – Ryan Hartman – Mats Zuccarello
Marcus Johansson – Joel Eriksson Ek – Matt Boldy
Marcus Foligno – Frederick Gaudreau – Oskar Sundqvist
Brandon Duhaime – Connor DeWar – Ryan Reaves
Jake Middleton – Jared Spurgeon
Jonas Brodin – Matt Dumba
Jon Merrill – John Klingberg
Filip Gustavsson
Marc-Andre Fleury
How to watch
Game 77: Golden Knights vs. Wild
When: 5 p.m. PT
Where: Xcel Energy Center – St. Paul, MN
TV: NHL Network, AT&T SportsNet
Radio: Fox Sports 98.9 FM