The Minnesota Wild fell to the Vegas Golden Knights 4-1 , but are still leading the Central Division after the Dallas Stars lost to the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday night.
Minnesota enters Sunday’s action with 97 points on the season while Colorado moved into a tie with Dallas at 96 points after a 5-2 victory in Denver. The Avalanche also have a game in hand on the Wild heading into the final weeks of the season, giving Colorado a 42.4 percent chance of winning the division according to MoneyPuck’s playoff odds.
Despite maintaining their lead in the division, the Wild missed a golden opportunity to clinch a playoff spot and move into first place in the Western Conference with their loss to the Golden Knights.
All jokes aside Boldy is that dude#mnwild pic.twitter.com/3t9AMtcPx2
— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) April 2, 2023
The Wild got off to a good start as Matt Boldy tipped in his 29th goal of the season at the five-minute mark of the first period but Vegas answered with goals from Ben Hutton and Zach Whitecloud to go into the first intermission up 2-1.
The Golden Knights added to their lead on Brett Howden’s goal at 2:29 of the second period and the Wild defense had a tough night, allowing 42 shots on net. Although Marc-Andre Fleury made 39 saves, it wasn’t enough to keep up with Lauren Brossoit, who made 29 saves and held Minnesota scoreless the rest of the game.
With an empty net goal from Chandler Stephenson, the Wild headed back to St. Paul still looking for a playoff spot. Minnesota will have another opportunity to clinch on Monday night when they host Vegas in a rematch at the Xcel Energy Center.
