Wild hang with Golden Knights for a while, until the ‘juggernaut’ effect shows

LAS VEGAS – No matter that the Wild were a shell of themselves, Marcus Foligno still considered going up against the Golden Knights a “measuring-stick game,” with Foligno cautioning Saturday night after goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury fended off the Sharks that the Wild wouldn’t be as fortunate against Vegas if they played like they did in San Jose.

“We’re going into a juggernaut,” Foligno said.

The Golden Knights could have felt the same about the Wild, what with Vegas only one point ahead in the standings, except the Wild didn’t arrive as advertised.

Neither did the Golden Knights — they, too, were missing their superstar — but it was the further-depleted Wild who faded 4-1 Sunday at T-Mobile Arena to put a pin in a Western Conference showdown that won’t mean more until the Wild are healthy.

“The effort is there,” goaltender Filip Gustavsson said. “The whole team is really fighting to win the game, and Vegas is one of the top teams in the league. If you’re missing some of your best players, it’s going to be tough.”

Still, the Wild tried to make this 2 vs. 3 battle stick, and they were doing a valiant job until the third period: That’s when Vegas’ Keegan Kolesar scored the tiebreaker at 4 minutes, 9 seconds, backhanding a puck by Gustavsson after he made an initial save on Zach Whitecloud.

This 2-1 difference lasted until late, with Tomas Hertl widening the Golden Knights’ lead at 15:40 before Pavel Dorofeyev netted his second power-play goal with 2:12 to go, but the degree of the deficit was made a moot point by the Wild’s three-shot third period.

They returned to Minnesota with a 1-1 split on their trip after suffering their first road loss when scoring first, dropping to 11-1.

“We didn’t find a way to get it done in the third,” coach John Hynes said.

While the result was different than the 3-1 win over the Sharks the previous night, a victory indicative of Fleury’s season-high 36 saves and timely goals from the top line to interrupt San Jose’s track meet, a tight-checking battle with Vegas was more in the Wild’s wheelhouse.

But their potential still looked capped, and why wouldn’t it be?

The Wild are still without leading scorer Kirill Kaprizov, captain Jared Spurgeon, top-pairing defensemen Jonas Brodin and Brock Faber and depth winger Jakub Lauko.

They also played most of the first period with only five defensemen after Kolesar checked David Jiricek into the boards. Jiricek returned before the period ended, and Kolesar wasn’t penalized, with Hynes mentioning he didn’t receive a good explanation for why not.

Foligno fought Kolesar for their second bout of the season; they also tussled during Vegas’ 3-2 win at Xcel Energy Center on Dec.15, with Foligno obliging Kolesar after Foligno got tied up with Ivan Barbashev and Barbashev left because of an injury that sidelined him until Saturday.

In the aftermath, the Wild capitalized first when Ryan Hartman sent a top-shelf shot past goalie Adin Hill (15 saves) during a 2-on-1 rush at 12:09, but the Wild never extended that momentum.

Instead, penalty trouble cost them in the second.

Only four seconds after Devin Shore began serving a tripping minor committed in the offensive zone, Jake Middleton was whistled for delay of game after lifting the puck over the boards. That meant a lengthy 5-on-3 for the Golden Knights, and the Wild defended admirably: Zach Bogosian and Jon Merrill had clears, and Gustavsson made a series of strong saves — including denying William Karlsson on a one-timer.

BOXSCORE: Vegas 4, Wild 1

NHL standings

But as Shore was rejoining the play and with only two seconds left on Middleton’s timeout, Dorofeyev crept all the way in between the faceoff circles to wire a shot by Gustavsson at 5:21.

“It was a good effort by the guys,” Bogosian said. “They had five players. We had three. It’s obviously more tough that way. But, yeah, we almost had it there.”

But the disparity in special teams — Vegas’ power play finished 2-for-5 compared to 0-for-2 for the Wild — wasn’t all that separated the two teams.

Although the Golden Knights didn’t have their best player, Jack Eichel, who was scratched because of illness, they seized control when the game was up for grabs in the third.

The game-winner from their third line came against the Wild’s fourth, as did the third goal, and the Wild had no response despite a 33-save, bounce-back performance by Gustavsson after he was on the hook for the 6-1 loss to the Avalanche on Thursday.

“We’re battling,” Hartman said. “We’re going out there every night with our guys and trying to get two points every night.”

But until they’re back to full strength, a ruler against Vegas, Colorado and Edmonton (who’s next on deck) feels irrelevant.

“You need to win games,” Gustavsson said, “and if you let down and the morale goes down on the team, you’re going to lose some ground in the standings. We’re just fighting for every point out there and try and get as many until those key guys come back and we can be a full unit again.”