The Wild Warmup is presented by Bryant Heating and Cooling
After seeing its six-game winning streak snapped in heartbreaking fashion in Las Vegas on Monday night, the Wild will try and start a new one on Wednesday when it faces the Vegas Golden Knights for the second of a two-game set at T-Mobile Arena.
Minnesota led by two goals in the third period, and was clinging to a one-goal lead with under a minute left in regulation when former Wild first-round pick Alex Tuch tied the game with 41 seconds remaining.
Max Pacioretty then scored his second goal of the game a couple minutes into overtime, scoring off Mark Stone's fifth assist of the night.
The overtime loss snapped Minnesota's four-game winning streak this season in overtime games, as the Wild entered the night a perfect 4-0 in the extra session.
"I think we just let off the gas a little bit," said Wild forward Marcus Foligno. "Give credit to their top line, they made good plays, they didn't really chip it in, they did a good job carrying the puck in and sustaining pressure.
"But we're still a good enough team to hang onto leads like that and get the win. It's unfortunate, but we've gotta be more aggressive, stay with our game and we got away from it a little bit. And that's a team that can make you pay."
Minnesota remains on an active seven-game point streak and currently sits third in the West Division, two points behind first-place Vegas and one back of second-place St. Louis, although the Wild has three games in hand on the Blues.
The Wild is has still suffered just one regulation loss against Vegas in the four-year history of the budding matchup, posting at least a point in eight of the nine all-time meetings.
While the Wild scored four goals on Monday night, the game saw the end of career-long point streaks by Mats Zuccarello (six games) and Kirill Kaprizov (five games).
Foligno led the way for the Wild, scoring two goals and assisting on another. Foligno now has six goals and 11 points on the season and is on pace to shatter career highs in every offensive category, even in a truncated 56-game season.
The five assists for Stone set a new Golden Knights franchise record, and perhaps more impressively, all five helpers were primary assists.
He now leads the club with 18 assists and 22 points on the season, both totals trailing only Los Angeles' Anze Kopitar in the West Division. Kopitar has played in two more games, however.
Kaapo Kahkonen could get the start in goal for Minnesota. He carries an active five-game winning streak into the game and is 8-4-0 with a 2.41 goals-against average to go with a .915 save percentage. He's coming off a 4-3 win against Los Angeles where he made 25 saves his last time out.
Marc-Andre Fleury has carried the load for Vegas with Robin Lehner out with an injury. Even after allowing all four goals to Minnesota on Monday, Fleury leads NHL starters with a 1.77 goals-against average and a .935 save percentage to go with a 10-3-0 record in 13 starts.
The game Wednesday marks the second of four meetings between the clubs between now and March 10. The Wild and Golden Knights will begin next week with a pair of games in downtown St. Paul.
