LAS VEGAS — Not much has gone wrong for the Minnesota Wild lately, but a rare loss on Saturday sure left a mark.
After blowing an early lead to get rolled 4-1 by the Vegas Golden Knights in front of 18,398 at T-Mobile Arena, the Wild failed to clinch a playoff berth and watched the distance to the top of Western Conference double.
They did, however, stay in first place in the Central Division.
That's because Colorado edged Dallas earlier in the night, but both teams are only one point behind the Wild with six games left — a push to the postseason that now includes a longer injury list.
Mason Shaw left in the first period with a lower-body injury after crashing awkwardly into the boards. Shaw had to be helped off the ice and didn't return.
Seconds after he exited, the Wild opened the scoring on Matt Boldy's 12th goal in the last 11 games, a John Klingberg shot that banked off Boldy and into the Vegas net 5 minutes into the first.
Boldy, who is one goal shy of 30, is up to 18 points in his last 14 games.
His goal came during a 9-0 run in shots for the Wild, but the Wild couldn't hold onto that momentum.
Instead, the Golden Knights snatched it up on four consecutive goals.
Ben Hutton started Vegas' rally at 9:55, one-timing in a Jack Eichel pass from behind the goal line. Zach Whitecloud supplied the go-ahead goal with 3:47 to go in the first, weaving a puck off a faceoff win through traffic and behind Wild goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury.
Then just 2:21 into the second, Brett Howden converted from between the circles. Chandler Stephenson added an empty-netter with 1:14 remaining in the third period.
Fleury, who suffered his first regulation loss since Feb. 15, finished with 34 saves. Laurent Brossoit had 29 for the Golden Knights, including a third-period breakaway stop vs. Marcus Johansson; Jonas Brodin rang a shot off the post in the aftermath. Both power plays went 0-for-2.
This regulation loss was the Wild's second in their past 22 games (16-2-4), and it snapped an 11-game point streak on the road while also widening Vegas' lead over the Wild for the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference to four points.
The rematch is Monday at Xcel Energy Center.
