Golden Knights strike back, overcome Kaprizov heroics

A third-period rally by Kirill Kaprizov wasn't enough as the Minnesota Wild fell to the Vegas Golden Knights 3-2 on Wednesday night.

The Wild and Golden Knights got off to a scoreless first period but things got chippy when Nicolas Hague checked Kirill Kaprizov from behind. Kaprizov immediately went after Hague and the hit sparked several fights throughout the opening period.

The action calmed down in the second period and Vegas scored the first goal of the game when Mattias Janmark fed Chandler Stephenson on a 2-on-1 for his 13th goal of the season.

Although the Golden Knights got on the board first, Cam Talbot kept the Wild in the game with 31 saves on the night.

That set the stage for Kaprizov to get revenge in the third period. The Calder Trophy candidate scored his 25th goal of the season with under nine minutes to play to tie the game at 1-1.

Just over two minutes later, Kaprizov scored again, this time off a faceoff to put Minnesota ahead 2-1.

But a hooking call on Mats Zuccarello put Vegas on the power play and Reilly Smith capitalized with his 10th goal of the season. The game went to overtime where Alex Pietrangelo scored the game-winner to help Vegas improve to 8-0 in the extra frame this season.

The loss puts the Wild (33-14-5) five points behind the Golden Knights for first place in the West Division. Minnesota will host Anaheim on Friday.