Vegas snapped the Wild's six-game win streak, and then the Wild returned the favor.
In its return home from the road, the Wild prevented the Golden Knights from rattling off a seventh consecutive victory — shutting them out 2-0 Monday at Xcel Energy Center at the start of a five-game homestand.
And that pushed a different win streak to seven games.
Goalie Kaapo Kahkonen was airtight, posting 26 saves to secure his first career shutout and improve to 7-0 in his last seven starts — an impressive run in which he's blocked 178 of 188 shots.
His win streak is also the longest by a Wild rookie goaltender in team history.
Kahkonen never faced the Golden Knights last week when Vegas swept the Wild, nixing the team's six-game win streak in a 5-4 overtime rally and then running away for a 5-1 decision in the rematch.
He was supported by a Kevin Fiala goal, Fiala's eighth of the season which is tied with Joel Eriksson Ek for the most on the team, and a solid penalty kill that survived all three Vegas power plays. Jonas Brodin was slashed during an empty-net attempt with six seconds to go, an infraction that awarded the Wild a second goal.
Coach Dean Evason scrambled two of the Wild's lines before the game, moving Nick Bjugstad between Kirill Kaprizov and Mats Zuccarello and putting center Victor Rask with Fiala and Zach Parise, and the change worked.
Rask scooped up a Golden Knights turnover and fed Fiala for a 2-on-1 rush with Parise that saw Fiala cut to the middle and wrist the puck by goalie Marc-Andre Fleury's blocker 10 minutes, 51 seconds into the first.
The Wild was pretty much in control the rest of the period despite taking a late penalty that carried over into the second. But the team snuffed out that look for Vegas and a third try for the Golden Knights later in the second, with Kahkonen totaling four of his saves on the penalty kill.
As for the other half of special teams, that remains a work in progress for the Wild.
Near the midway point of the second, the team received its first and only power play of the game. But not only did the Wild not take advantage, but the team didn't register a shot on goal. Overall, the last-place unit in the NHL (5-for-74) has blanked on its past 19 chances after going 0-for-2.
And a goal from the power play would have given the Wild some much-needed insurance since the Golden Knights, who were playing without captain Mark Stone and defenseman Alex Pietrangelo, upped the pressure in the second — getting in front of Kahkonen more frequently and outshooting the Wild 14-5 in the frame.
That edge carried over into the third, with the Golden Knights once again concentrating the play in the Wild's end, but Kahkonen was ready.
Most of his success this season has come on the road, where he's 6-1 with a 1.73 goals-against average and .935 save percentage.
But the reigning American Hockey League's outstanding goaltender had no trouble bringing that mojo to St. Paul to continue a tremendous season — the 24-year-old's first full-time stint with the Wild.
At the other end of the rink, Fleury, who had won five in a row coming into the game, finished with 20 saves.
The win bumped the Wild up to 29 points, four back of Vegas. These two teams will wrap up their two-game series on Wednesday.
