Marcus Johansson had a goal and three assists as the Minnesota Wild jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the first 27 minutes and then cruised to a 5-2 victory over the Vegas Golden Knights on Monday night in Las Vegas.
It was the second four-point game of Johansson’s career and first since March 28, 2017, when he did it with the Washington Capitals against the Wild. Matt Boldy, Jared Spurgeon and Joel Eriksson Ek each had a goal and an assist, Jonas Brodin had two assists and Brock Faber also scored for Minnesota, which improved to 21-4-3 since Nov. 1.
Filip Gustavsson made 14 saves for the Wild as Vegas finished with a season-low 16 shots on goal.
Brayden McNabb and Mark Stone scored goals and Ivan Barbashev had two assists for the Golden Knights, who lost for the fifth time (1-3-2) in their last six games. Carter Hart started his fourth straight game but left in the second period after allowing five goals on 12 shots. Akira Schmid finished up and stopped all 15 shots he faced.
Minnesota, playing the second game of a season-long seven-game, 14-day road trip that began with a 4-3 overtime win at Winnipeg on Saturday, needed just 26 seconds to take a 1-0 lead on Johansson’s one-timer from the right circle past Hart’s glove side.
Boldy made it 2-0 at the 14:06 mark of the first period with his team-leading 25th goal, finishing a 2-on-1 rush with Eriksson Ek with a wrist shot past Hart’s blocker side.
Spurgeon extended the Wild lead to 3-0 at the 26-second mark of the second period with a wrist shot from the bottom of the left circle past an Eriksson Ek screen and Hart’s glove side.
Faber followed with a wrist shot from inside the blue line and above the right circle that went through traffic and past Hart’s blocker side. It marked the third time in the last five games that Vegas trailed 4-0 in a game.
Eriksson Ek made it 5-0 at the 6:56 mark when he redirected Boldy’s pass in front of the crease into the left side of the net, chasing Hart.
Vegas, which lost center Tomas Hertl early in the first period to a five-minute boarding penalty and game misconduct for his check on Ryan Hartman, cut the lead to 5-1 late in the second period when McNabb fired a wrist shot from the left circle in off the far right post.
Stone made it 5-2 early in the third period when he jammed in a loose puck on the doorstep through Gustavsson’s pads to finish the scoring.
–Field Level Media
