Postgame Hat Trick: Golden Knights 6, Wild 4

Wild.com's Dan Myers gives three takeaways from the Wild's 6-4 loss against the Vegas Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Sunday night:

1. A wild one
The first period in this one should have given us a clue of what we were in store for.
Vegas and Minnesota traded first-period goals, with the Wild evening the ledger in the last second of play in the opening period.
Nick Bjugstad opened the scoring less than 10 seconds after play began in the second and away these two clubs went once again.
Vegas scored back-to-back goals to close out the second with a lead before Marcus Foligno scored his 13th goal of the season on one of the weirdest bounces you'll ever see, when Jared Spurgeon's blast from the right circle - which was headed well wide of the post - was gloved by Knights goaltender Robin Lehner. The shot had so much steam on it, however, that it hopped out of Lehner's mitt and landed behind him, where Foligno shoveled it across the goal line and in.

That was less than two minutes into the third.
A second-period parade to the penalty box by the Knights, inevitably, meant things would even out in the third, and they did. Vegas took advantage of a power play to retake a 5-4 lead.
But as it has all season long, the Wild pushed for the tying goal at the end. It had a handful of grade-A chances over the final two minutes, including a glorious look by Kevin Fiala, but his shot banged square off the post.
Alex Pietrangelo added an empty-net goal with under 30 seconds left to provide the final margin and send the Wild home to Minnesota with a 2-2 road trip.

"We didn't think the start we had the energy, but we gathered it and we caught ourselves," said Wild coach Dean Evason. "We got better and better as the game went on."
After a night in L.A. where the Wild was forced to kill three first-period penalties, Evason implored his team to keep the game 5-on-5, which has been Minnesota's bread and butter all season long.
Unfortunately the game didn't play out that way.
Vegas converted two of its four power-play chances, including Mark Stone's game-winning goal, while Minnesota could score on just one of its six power-play chances, including a lengthy 5-on-3 advantage in the second period that was immediately followed up by another two-minute 5-on-4.
"We wanted to score there," said Wild forward Mats Zuccarello. "That could have changed the game there for sure. We take it on us, [the guys who] are out there. We don't score there and it's a big [momentum switch]."
Minnesota couldn't convert, and it ended up costing it in the end.
Overall, the Wild's power play has been better of late and has now converted at least one opportunity in five consecutive games. It just needed to be a little better on Sunday.
"We scored one goal, but 5-on-3, we have to convert there," Evason said. "They've got a special power play. And we believe that was the difference in the hockey game."
2. This time it counts
Saturday night in Los Angeles, Kirill Kaprizov whipped a turnaround snap shot from the left point through a bunch of traffic, apparently scoring past Jonathan Quick, only to find out the puck crossed the goal line a split second or two too late.
The Wild did it again on Sunday, only this time it counted.

While on a power play, a Jared Spurgeon rebound was kicked out by Robin Lehner and Mats Zuccarello pounced, snapping his twig on the putback, a turn of events that actually ended up working out just fine. Because Lehner had sprawled to get as much of his body in the way, he left his five hole wide open, and Zuccarello's offspeed shot never left the ice and went right through the gaping crevice ... just in the nick of time.
Literally.
Replays showed the puck crossed with 0.7 seconds left in the first, tying the game at 2-2 after 20 minutes of play.

Zuccarello said he wasn't sure if his goal would count or not, but said the stick breaking was the best-case scenario.
"Probably wouldn't have scored if I didn't," Zuccarello said.

Minnesota wasted no time in the second period, as Bjugstad whipped a shot under the crossbar to give the Wild a 3-2 lead just nine seconds into the frame.
The goal was the fastest to start a second period on the road in franchise history and tied the overall team record set at Xcel Energy Center by Brian Rolston on Nov. 30, 2007 versus St. Louis.
3. Party in the 218
With the Wild a couple thousand miles from home in Sin City on Sunday night, both clubs seemingly did their best to pay homage to the fine folks in Northern Minnesota.
Vegas was on the board first, as defenseman and one-time Bemidji State Beaver Zach Whitecloud gained control of a turned over puck and rifled a shot under the crossbar for a goal that gave the Knights a 1-0 lead.
Whitecloud, of course, was one of about a half dozen Vegas regulars who were not in the lineup when these clubs hooked up in this very arena last month.

Not to be outdone, however, was Alex Goligoski. The pride of Grand Rapids, Goligoski whistled one by Robin Lehner 5:01 after Whitecloud's lid-lifter, briefly tying the game at 1-1.
For Goligoski, it was his third goal of the season and 12th point in the past 13 games. During a stretch dating back to Nov. 18, Goligoski is tied for sixth amongst all NHL blueliners in scoring.
Whitecloud would score a carbon copy of his first-period goal later in game, which brought Vegas even after the Wild took its one-goal lead early in the second.

Loose pucks

• Zuccarello's goal gives him nine points in his past eight games
• Spurgeon's multi-point night was the 54th of his NHL career
• Matt Dumba had an assist and now has four helpers in his past four games
• Foligno's goal was his 13th, which ties a career high
• Cam Talbot finished with 30 saves
• Vegas' Chandler Stephenson had four assists
• Max Pacioretty and Mark Stone had a goal and two assists
• Lehner stopped 23 of 27 shots in the victory

Dan's three stars

1. Chandler Stephenson
   2. Zach Whitecloud
   3. Jared Spurgeon

Highlights