A three-minute meltdown in the second period cost the Golden Knights dearly Friday night. The Minnesota Wild scored three times in rapid succession, turning a tight game into a 4-2 defeat at T-Mobile Arena.
It was Vegas’s fourth loss in five games and dropped them out of first place in the Pacific Division after the Anaheim Ducks beat Montreal in a shootout.
The Knights (29-20-14) had controlled the early part of the second period, with Keegan Kolesar fighting Minnesota’s Jake Middleton to energize the crowd. But a turnover by Noah Hanifin led to a breakaway goal by Mats Zuccarello at 5:18, and the Wild struck again 18 seconds apart — Zach Bogosian and Michael McCarron both scored — to make it 3-0 by 8:25.
“We were in control, then one mistake and it snowballed,” said Knights coach Bruce Cassidy. “We couldn’t stop the momentum.”
Pavel Dorofeyev cut the deficit to 3-1 with a power-play goal at 12:17 of the second, his 30th of the season. He became the first Knights player with consecutive 30-goal campaigns. Mitch Marner also scored for the second straight game.
But Vladimir Tarasenko restored the three-goal lead with 4:18 left in the third. Akira Schmid made 17 saves in the loss.
New center Nic Dowd made his debut, winning 12 of 17 faceoffs in 13:17 of ice time. The Knights host the Edmonton Oilers on Sunday.
