March 6, 2026; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; Las Vegas Golden Knights’ goalkeeper Akira Schmid (40) makes a save against Minnesota Wild’s left winger Matt Boldy (12) in the first quarter at T-Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Stephen R. Sylvani-Imagn Image Filip Gustavsson made 29 saves and Michael McCarron had a goal and an assist in his Minnesota debut as the Wild beat the Vegas Golden Knights 4-2 on Friday in Las Vegas.
Mats Zuccarello, Zach Bogosian and Vladimir Tarasenko also scored for Minnesota, which completed a three-game winning streak in the regular season series with the Golden Knights.
The Wild have won their second straight overall and eight of their last 10 games.
Pavel Dorofeev scored his 30th goal and had an assist, becoming the first player in Las Vegas history to have back-to-back 30-goal seasons, while Mitch Marner also scored for Las Vegas.
Akira Schmid finished the game with 20 saves against the Golden Knights, who fell out of first place in the Pacific Division. The Anaheim Ducks, with a 6-5 shootout win over the Montreal Canadiens, clinched first place in the division.
Minnesota took a 1-0 lead with Zuccarello’s breakaway goal at 5 minutes and 18 seconds of the second period. He intercepted a drop pass from Noah Hanifin near the blue line, raced up the ice and drilled a wrist shot past Schmidt’s glove side.
The Wild scored twice in 18 seconds to extend their lead to 3-0 midway through the first half.
Bogosian got the first at 8:07 when he hit a slap shot from the top of the right circle past the side of Schmid’s blocker. McCarron, acquired in a trade with the Nashville Predators on Tuesday, deflected Brock Faber’s shot from the right point into the top left corner of the net. This is the fourth time in five games that the Golden Knights have fallen behind 3-0.
Vegas, which pulled off its league-leading 10th third-period comeback win at Detroit on Wednesday, made it 3-1 on Dorofeyev’s power-play goal at 2:17 of the third. He nailed a wrist shot off the right doorstep of a Jack Eichel pass.
Tarasenko restored the Wild’s three-goal lead with 4 minutes, 18 seconds remaining when he finished an odd-man rush with a wrist shot from the left circle that beat Schmid by five.
Marner made it 4-2 with 3:05 left when he redirected Dorofeev’s pass into the low slot.
–Field level media
