*Photo from the Star Tribune*
On a night that the Vegas Golden Knights had to scratch captain Mark Stone and alternate captain Alex Pietrangelo due to injury, they ran into a brick wall known as Kaapo Kahkonen. Kahkonen stopped 26 shots, Kevin Fiala added a goal, and the Minnesota Wild shut out the Golden Knights with a 2-0 win on Monday night. The win snapped a 5 game winning streak for Vegas.
Fiala got the scoring going 10:51 into the first period, sending his 8th goal of the season to the back of the net to give the Wild a 1-0 lead early on in this one. The score remained 1-0 Wild all the way until just 6 seconds left in the game, when Jonas Brodin scored an empty net goal, his 4th goal of the season, to seal up the win for the Wild.
Wild coach Dean Evason said of Kahkonen's performance that "He's the type of person who doesn't care about anything but getting in the net and competing. There's no stress, there's not any type of maintenance. He just goes about his business. I don't think if he was guaranteed a spot that it would be any different than if he came in and won a spot. He's that type of person, that type of goalie."
The dominating win was the first shutout of Kahkonen's young NHL career, stopping all 26 shots that came his way. Against a team as loaded with talent as Vegas, that is not an easy task, but one that Kahkonen was up to. His record improved to 10-4-0 this season, while, thanks to a stretch of good play, the Wild move to 3rd place in the NHL's West Division with a 14-8-1 record this season.
Kahkonen said of his success this season that "I've been feeling great. It's been a really fun time. But I'm just happy with the way things are going right now. Obviously, getting another win, it's great. It was a great team win, and I don't know, I probably sound really boring on these interviews, but it's just the daily work I believe that matters and doing those little things right, and that will get you there."
Marc-Andre Fleury was the starting goalie for the Golden Knights, who got hit with the loss this time around, snapping their 5 game win streak. Fleury stopped 20 shots out of 21 that came his way, the only hiccup being Fiala's goal in the first. Fleury's record dropped to 12-4-0 this season, and the Golden Knights have a 16-5-1 record this season, still on top of the West Division.
These two have a rematch on Wednesday night in Minnesota, with Fleury starting again for the Golden Knights as they try to get back in the win column. Kahkonen will start again for the Wild.
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