3rd-period explosion helps Wild sweep Golden Knights

The Minnesota Wild used a three-goal third period to score their second straight victory over the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday night by a score of 4-3.

The Wild didn't take long to get on the scoreboard as Joel Eriksson Ek opened the night with his ninth goal of the season. With his marker coming 19 seconds into the game, Minnesota had an early 1-0 lead.

The Wild weren't on top long, however, as Vegas tied the game on Dylan Coghlan's first career goal. The game slowed down and was reminiscent of Monday's victory as Marc-Andre Fleury and Kaapo Kahkonen dueled throughout a scoreless second period.

Minnesota earned a power-play opportunity to open the third and Kirill Kaprizov provided a rare power-play goal to put the Wild ahead 2-1.

The Wild extended their lead later in the third period when Eriksson Ek scored his second goal of the game and 10th of the season to make it 3-1.

Minnesota capped off the period with Carson Soucy's first goal of the season to send Fleury to the bench.

Although Coghlan scored two goals late for his first career hat trick, the Wild were able to close out the 4-3 victory.

The Wild improved to 15-8-1 with the win and host the Arizona Coyotes on Friday night.