LAS VEGAS — The Golden Knights fell behind 2-0 after one period and 5-0 less than seven minutes into the second period on Monday night, as the Minnesota Wild skated to a 5-2 road win inside T-Mobile Arena.
Vegas, which dropped to 1-1-1 during its current four-game homestand, has now lost five of its last six.
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The Golden Knights (45) sit one point behind the Pacific Division-leading Edmonton Oilers and are just one point in front of the third-place Anaheim Ducks, who also lost at home Monday, 5-4 to the San Jose Sharks.
Marcus Johansson put the Wild on the board first, just 26 seconds into the game, while Matt Boldy made it 2-0 later in the period.
Again, this time 26 seconds into the second stanza, the Wild struck when Jared Spurgeon made it 3-0. Brock Faber and Joel Eriksson Ek tacked on two more to essentially put the game out of reach.
Brayden McNabb scored late in the second and captain Mark Stone scored early in the third to provide the final margin.
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Vegas goalie Carter Hart allowed five goals during the 12 shots he faced before turning the net over to Akira Schmid, who stopped all 15 shots he faced.
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Just 2:13 into the game, the Golden Knights lost center Tomas Hertl when he was ejected for a game misconduct after being called for a major boarding penalty on Minnesota’s Ryan Hartman. With centers Jack Eichel and William Karlsson already missing with injuries, losing Hertl was less than ideal.
“You’re down your three centers, but you can’t make the excuses,” Vegas captain Mark Stone said. “That’s when you got to kind of play a little more together, play more as a five-man group, offensively, defensively, all over the ice. You got to support each other a little bit better than what we did in the first 40 (minutes).
16 – Vegas’ 16 shots on goal were a season low, one less than the previous low of 17, back on Oct. 25 during a 3-0 loss at Florida. From Oct. 28 through Sunday, Vegas ranked third with 30.4 shots per game. After Monday’s loss, the Knights rank fifth with 29.9 shots per game since then.
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Though the damage was done, Schmid might have been Vegas’ player all night. Coming off the bench cold to stop every shot he faced was a perfect warm-up performance before Wednesday’s scheduled start against Nashville. Schmid is 11-3-4 and ranks sixth in the league with a 2.40 goals-against average among goalies who have played in 19 games played. He also has .900 save percentage.
The Golden Knights conclude their four-game homestand by hosting the Nashville Predators on Wednesday in a New Year’s Eve matinee.
PHOTO CAPTION: Vegas Golden Knights goaltender Carter Hart (79) is pulled in favor of goaltender Akira Schmid (40) after surrendering 5 goals to the Minnesota Wild during the second period at T-Mobile Arena.
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