LAS VEGAS — Joel Eriksson Ek declined the player of the game bucket hat the Wild hand out after each win on Thursday, giving it back to Cam Talbot after the goalie tried to recognize Eriksson Ek.
But Eriksson Ek might be able to keep the memento this time.
After setting up the game-tying goal, Eriksson Ek scored two shifts later to complete the Wild's 2-1 comeback against the Golden Knights Saturday in front of 3,950 at T-Mobile Arena — busting open a tight-checking slugfest to help the Wild sweep Vegas and finish the road trip a respectable 2-1-1.
In the midst of the best offensive season of his NHL career, Eriksson Ek put the Wild's rally in motion in the third period.
On the team's second power play of the game, he sent the puck to a wide-open Kirill Kaprizov for the redirect behind Golden Knights goalie Marc-Andre Fleury at 6 minutes, 13 seconds.
The goal was the Wild's seventh with the man advantage over the team's last 13 games and third power-play marker for Kaprizov, who also scored in the 3-2 shootout win over Vegas on Thursday. Kaprizov has six points in his past six games.
Overall, the Wild went 1 for 3 and Vegas was 0 for 3.
And then just 55 seconds later, Eriksson Ek put back his own rebound to give the Wild its first lead of the night.
This was Eriksson Ek's fifth multi-point game of the season, and eight of his career-high 12 goals — which rank second on the team behind only Kaprizov (14) — have come in the third period, which is tied for the second-most in the NHL.
Although he didn't factor into any of the offense in Thursday's victory, Eriksson Ek was still valuable for the Wild.
Talbot thought Eriksson Ek set the tone for the team, and that's why he wanted to reward Eriksson Ek with the bucket hat he'd had since the Wild's previous win (the 2-0 shutout over St. Louis on March 25). But since Talbot was excellent and the reason the Wild prevailed, Eriksson Ek felt Talbot should hold onto the hat.
That effort against Vegas seemed like the perfect palette cleanser for the Wild after an underwhelming start to the week against the Sharks, who prevailed in an eight-round shootout before taking down the Wild 4-2 in the second game.
Not only was Talbot terrific, but the Wild's special-teams play was clutch and the team's scoring was timely.
And while Talbot's steadiness continued Saturday, the Wild struggled to gain an edge against the Golden Knights.
Only 5 minutes, 33 seconds into the first period, Vegas opened the scoring on a quirky play.
After a dump-in by Alex Tuch bounced toward the middle, the puck caromed off Nicolas Roy's skate and to Tomas Nosek for a backhand shot by Talbot.
In the second, the action hunkered down even more.
What looked like the Wild's best chance to finally turn the tide was a power play late in the period after Reilly Smith was called for slashing Kevin Fiala.
But only four seconds into the opportunity, the power play was over. An interference call against Kaprizov negated it.
While play was at 4 on 4, the Golden Knights' Jonathan Marchessault missed the net on a breakaway and in the waning seconds of the period Marcus Johansson was stopped in tight.
Some of the Wild's most consistent pressure came early in the third; Fiala had a breakaway look dissolve after Tuch caught up, and a Nick Bonino shot hit Fleury. The Vegas goalie pocketed 25 saves, and Talbot finished with 25.
Not until the Wild received another power play did the team finally break through, and Eriksson Ek led the charge.
