One of the Vegas Golden Knights’ problems when falling behind in games has been the inability to stop the bleeding.
Letting one goal turn into two. Or in the case of Friday against the Minnesota Wild, three.
The Wild scored three times in a three-minute stretch during the second period, and the Knights lost 4-2 at T-Mobile Arena for their fourth loss in five games.
The Knights (29-20-14) played their first home game since the league returned from the Olympic break.
The five Knights Olympians who played in the gold medal game were honored before the game.
Center Jack Eichel and defenseman Noah Hanifin were acknowledged for winning the gold for Team USA. Minnesota stars Quinn Hughes, Matt Boldy and Brock Faber were also acknowledged and joined Eichel and Hanifin at center ice.
Pavel Dorofeyev scored his 30th goal of the season to become the first Knights player ever to record consecutive 30-goal seasons.
Mitch Marner scored for the second straight game.
The Knights played inspired and got good goaltending from Akira Schmid, who finished with 17 saves. They controlled play to start the second period with the ice tilting in their favor.
A quick fight between Knights winger Keegan Kolesar and Minnesota defenseman Jake Middleton three minutes into the frame turned the temperature up.
It got both teams engaged. The one that took advantage was wearing white.
The Knights were in control through the first five minutes of the period.
One Hanifin turnover later, and it was gone. The defenseman’s drop pass with no one in the vicinity sprung Wild winger Mats Zuccarello for a breakaway at 5:18 for a 1-0 lead.
Minnesota tacked on two more goals in an 18-second span from defenseman Zach Bogosian and center Michael McCarron to make it 3-0 by 8:25.
It’s the fifth straight game the Knights allowed three consecutive goals and the fourth time they fell behind by three.
The Knights failed to stop the bleeding before it was too late. Dorofeyev made it 3-1 with a power-play goal 2:17 in to cut it to two, but that got the Wild’s attention.
Minnesota didn’t sit back. The Wild turned up their forecheck, and the Knights didn’t have enough steam to counter.
Wild winger Vladimir Tarasenko scored with 4:18 left to push the lead back to three.
New Knights center Nic Dowd played 13:17 and went 12-of-17 in faceoffs in his debut.
The Anaheim Ducks moved into sole possession of first place in the Pacific Division thanks to their 6-5 shootout win over the Montreal Canadiens on Friday.
The Knights host the Edmonton Oilers on Sunday.
Contact Danny Webster at dwebster@reviewjournal.com. Follow @DannyWebster21 on X.
