Forward Pavel Dorofeyev scored twice with an assist as the Vegas Golden Knights ended a two-game losing skid with a 4-1 victory against the Minnesota Wild at T-Mobile Arena on Sunday.
Tomáš Hertl had a goal and an assist for Vegas (29-11-3). Keegan Kolesar also scored, while Mark Stone and Shea Theodore had two assists each. Adin Hill made 15 saves.
“It’s nice. Obviously, when the bounces aren’t going your way, and the goals aren’t going your way, you can put that little seed of doubt in your head,” Kolesar said. “We’re a veteran group in here, like many have said. We’re able to turn the page when we have to. The last two games are behind us. We knew we hadn’t played our best, and then in the third period there, we showed what we can do.”
Here are three takeaways:
Dorofeyev ends slump
Dorofeyev scored his goals on the man advantage, ending a four-game goalless streak. He has four goals in the last 20 games, but this could be the sign that he’s slowly breaking out of his slump.
He leads the team in goals with 16.
“[Pavel] can score, and he will,” Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy said. “I’ve said it before, I think sometimes wingers can be streaky,” Cassidy said. “Is the puck finding them? Is it not? They don’t see it as much as maybe centermen or can’t activate like D. So at the end of the day, he’s kept working and done a good job.”
Golden Knights end even-strength drought
Vegas went 213 minutes and 11 seconds without scoring an even-strength goal. Kolesar ended the drought with his goal at the 4:09 mark of the third period.
It wasn’t a pretty goal by any means. It was a simple get inside position and tap in a rebound into an open net goal that Cassidy values.
More importantly, it was the type of goal that can help a team break out of its scoring funk.
“It was huge for us,” Cassidy said. “We felt that when you’re not scoring, sometimes you’re trying to make an extra pass or whatever. You’re hitting posts. How about a greasy one, right? It couldn’t have been any greasier.”
Kolesar said it was only a matter of time before they scored a 5-on-5 goal.
“We’re too good of a team not to score 5-on-5. Obviously, you need your special teams to get you some wins here and there around the season,” Kolesar said. “But 5-on-5, we know we can score. We proved it for a number of games here to start. So we knew it was only a matter of time.”
Kolesar misses Gordie Howe hat trick
Kolesar had an eventful night.
He fought Marcus Foligno. He scored the game-winner.
The only thing missing from his busy night was an assist that would have given him a Gordie Howe hat trick (fight, goal, assist).
“I would have liked it. Oh, well, there’s always next time,” Kolesar said.
Fan Reacts: Golden Knights WIN! Golden Knights beat Wild 4-1
Paul Delos Santos is the Las Vegas sports insider for Dice City Sports. Follow him on X at @PaulDelos_.
