Marc-Andre Fleury made the better-looking saves.
But the future Hall of Famer couldn't do what Kaapo Kahkonen did and that's win the game.
The rookie was locked-in yet again, making 24 stops to help the Wild outlast the Golden Knights 4-3 Wednesday at Xcel Energy Center and register his eighth straight victory.
Kahkonen became the first NHL goaltender this season to go on an 8-0 run, a jaw-dropping stretch in which Kahkonen has blocked 202 of 215 shots and lifted the Wild into the race for the West Division crown.
After sweeping Vegas, the Wild is only two points back of the Golden Knights for the No.1 seed.
Not only has Kahkonen tied Josh Harding for the second-most wins in a Wild season by a rookie goalie (11), but he's also two victories shy of matching the franchise record for longest win streak held by Devan Dubnyk (10-0 from Dec.4-29, 2016). Kahkonen's eight-game streak is already the franchise record for a rookie.
Another rookie helped on offense, with Kirill Kaprizov scoring on the power play to snap a 0-for-20 slump for the beleaguered unit.
The Wild's first shot of the night ended up in the net, with Joel Eriksson Ek depositing a Shea Theodore turnover behind Fleury just 19 seconds after puck drop.
But only 1:23 later, the Golden Knights retaliated on a shot through traffic by Dylan Coghlan for Coghlan's first NHL goal.
What ensued next was a slugfest, a much grittier battle than the 2-0 grind that played out Monday when Kahkonen recorded his first career shutout.
Brayden McNabb checked Kyle Rau to the ice in the first period, Kaprizov exited the action briefly after taking a puck to the face and Nick Bjugstad was also upended with a heavy hit from Chandler Stephenson to end the second period.
The physicality, however, didn't seem to slow down the Wild, with the team keeping Fleury busy. He made impressive glove saves on Nico Sturm and Mats Zuccarello, who was on a breakaway.
Not until the Wild's second power play of the game did the team finally push another puck behind Fleury. After a Bjugstad faceoff win, Kaprizov's backhander off a Zuccarello rebound sailed in at 1:18 of the third period.
That was the team's first power play goal in 21 chances, improving the team to 6-for-76 on the season.
Vegas went 0-for-2, and Fleury finished with 25 saves – letting in two more goals after Eriksson Ek cleaned up his own rebound at 5:54 of the third and then Carson Soucy capitalized on a one-timer at 7:41 before getting pulled. His replacement, Logan Thompson, had two saves in his NHL debut.
With a team-leading 10 goals through 24 games, Eriksson Ek has set a career high – surpassing the eight he scored last season in 62 games.
Coghlan scored twice more for his first career hat trick, scoring his second with 6 minutes remaining while play was at 4-on-4. And then with Thompson pulled for an extra attacker, he buried his third goal at 17:50.
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March 11, 2021 at 09:45AM
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Kaapo Kahkonen strong again, Wild fends off Vegas 4-3 to complete series sweep at home - Minneapolis Star Tribune
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