 but partially tore his right hamstring against Colorado on Tuesday and is expected to miss at least four weeks. Minnesota, which had 18 blocked shots, ranks 28th with its penalty kill on the road but stopped Vegas on all three power plays. In his homecoming, Zucker gave the Wild a 1-0 lead midway through the first period with his 29th goal of the season. Coyle extended his point streak to five games when he backhanded a loose puck over Fleury's stick midway through the second. Coyle has three goals and three assists in his last five games. Moments later, Zucker fed Dumba, who lifted the puck over a sprawled-out Fleury to extend Minnesota's lead to 3-0 with 13:24 left in the period. Eric Staal, who ranks fifth in the league with 37 goals and leads all NHL players with four versus Vegas, now has six points against the Golden Knights after assisting on Dumba's goal. With Jonas Brodin's assist on Coyle's goal and Dumba's 11th goal of the season, Minnesota defensemen have totaled a franchise-record 173 points (36 goals, 137 assists) in 71 games this season. The Wild rank second behind Nashville for most points by blue-liners this season. Haula and Carpenter scored late in the third to make it a one-goal game, but Parise's empty-netter sealed the win for the Wild. NOTES: Vegas goalie Malcolm Subban, who is 11-3-1 with a 2.59 goals-against average, was activated from injured reserve and could see his first action since Feb. 2 on Sunday vs. Calgary. ... Dumba and Vegas' Pierre-Edouard Bellemare both played in their 299th career game. ... Vegas coach Gerard Gallant remains three wins away from 200 career victories. ... Fleury still needs one win to move into a tie for 12th on the career list for goaltenders at 401. UP NEXTWild: Visit the Arizona Coyotes on Saturday. Golden Knights: Host the Calgary Flames on Sunday.---For more NHL coverage: https://apnews.com/tag/NHLhockey)
Time: 10:30 PM EDT Venue: T-Mobile Arena, Paradise, NV, 89119 / LAS VEGAS -- There have been plenty of positives for the Vegas Golden Knights while building a 10-point lead in the Pacific Division during their inaugural season. Wednesday night's 8-3 loss to the New Jersey Devils wasn't one of them. It was the worst home loss in franchise history for the Golden Knights (45-20-5, 95 points), who will attempt to snap a three-game losing streak at T-Mobile Arena when it hosts the Minnesota Wild on Friday night. Vegas entered Wednesday's blowout loss after an impressive 4-1 East Coast road trip and is still a glossy 24-8-2 on home ice. And coach Gerard Gallant, who actually thought his team played well for much of the game but was the victim of some bad "puck luck," said he didn't dwell on the lopsided loss at practice on Thursday." We've (forgotten) about it," Gallant said. "I was pissed off last night. I got home last night at 12 o'clock, had a baloney sandwich, went to bed, and I feel real good today." You forget about it. It's like when we're winning five in a row, it doesn't matter what happened yesterday, we get ready for the next game. That's the bottom line." Vegas is expected to get two key players back Friday night in left winger James Neal and backup goalie Malcolm Subban. Neal, who ranks third on the team with 24 goals, hasn't played since leaving a 3-2 overtime loss at Los Angeles on Feb. 26 because of a hand injury. Subban was injured in a Feb. 7 practice in San Jose and hasn't played since a 5-2 loss at Minnesota on Feb. 2." I'm assuming they'll both be ready (Friday)," Gallant said. "They both had good practices today. Assuming everything goes good the rest of the day, they'll be ready to go tomorrow." To make room for the duo, Vegas assigned forward Tomas Hyka and goalie Max Lagace to Chicago of the AHL on Thursday afternoon." Never happy when you're sitting out with an injury," Neal said. "It sucks, especially when the guys go out on the road and you're at home skating by yourself. You want to get back with the guys as quick as you can." Subban, who is 11-3-1 with a 2.59 goals-against average, could give starter Marc-Andre Fleury a much-needed break in net. Fleury, who has started 18 of the last 19 games, was yanked early in the second period against the Devils after allowing four goals on 11 shots, angrily slamming his stick on top of the goal after the final one." It was nothing to do with Fleury, the way he played," Gallant said when asked if maybe his goalie should have been given a night off. "Our team was flat last night. We played real good at times and we played real poor at times. It just wasn't a good game for us." Minnesota (39-24-7, 85), which has won both of the previous meetings with Vegas in Saint Paul (4-2 on Nov. 30 and 5-2 on Feb. 2) and is in third place in the Central Division, comes in off back-to-back losses at Edmonton (4-1) and Tuesday at home to Colorado (5-1). The latter was particularly costly because defenseman Jared Spurgeon, who leads the team in blocked shots (127) and is second in TOI (time on ice) at 24:37, suffered a partially torn right hamstring while sliding into the boards and is expected to miss at least four weeks. The game is a homecoming for Wild left winger Jason Zucker, who grew up just minutes from T-Mobile Arena and is the only Nevada-raised player to play in the NHL." It's something I never thought would happen so it's pretty cool," Zucker, who has 28 goals and 54 points, told NHL.com. Zucker said he expects to have about 40 friends and family at the game, including his parents, Scott and Natalie, and brothers Evan and Adam, all of whom are Vegas season ticket-holders. His wife, Carly, daughter Sophia, and son, Hendrix, also made the trip from the Twin Cities to watch the game.
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