Wild's skid continues at home after 5-1 thumping by Golden Knights

A return to St. Paul didn't cure the Wild's woes: They just sagged deeper into their slump.

After getting swept on their last road trip, the Wild were throttled 5-1 by the Golden Knights on Thursday in front of 18,797 at Xcel Energy Center. They have dropped three in a row at the outset of a seven-game homestand.

"We've screamed and yelled, and we've kicked a few things," coach Dean Evason said. "But we'll stick together as a group, and we'll get out of it."

Overall, the Wild have lost six of their past eight to just barely remain in a playoff position; with 58 points, they currently occupy the last wild-card seed in the Western Conference.

"We're still in the thick of it," captain Jared Spurgeon said, "and we can't be down on ourselves."

Vegas never trailed the Wild, but the Golden Knights transformed their control into chaos with three goals on five shots in 2 minutes, 26 seconds during the second period.

After the Wild cut their deficit to 2-1 on the power play, Paul Cotter one-timed in a Jack Eichel pass at 10:47 to capitalize on a 2-on-2 look that started as an odd-man rush.

"It's hard not to win and to lose this way, too, especially for me as a goalie, my old teammates," Fleury said. "It's a little embarrassing."

Then only 20 seconds after Smith scored and on Vegas' very next shot, Eichel wired the puck past Fleury, who smacked his stick against the post after the goal and then tossed it to center ice.

"I shouldn't do that probably," said Fleury, who exited after the second with 18 saves. Filip Gustavsson made eight stops in relief during the third. "I was just mad for giving up another goal. There was a lot in that period. I felt like I didn't make a save. Just angry, and it came out that way."

But self-inflicted mistakes ending up in their net isn't the Wild's only issue: Their scoring struggles are an eyesore that keeps festering.

This was the second consecutive game the team did not convert at even strength; out of the last 16 goals the Wild have tallied, only five have come at 5-on-5.

Vegas didn't have that problem.

Nicolas Roy's shot sailed five-hole on Fleury only 7:07 into the first period. That lead doubled 2:41 into the second on an Alex Pietrangelo windup after a Marcus Foligno giveaway.

"Turnovers and then unintelligent pinches," Evason said. "We're not on the right side of people, and we give odd-man rushes and 2-on-1s to their top line. Just really structural individual mistakes."

The Wild appeared to regain some momentum at 4:37 when they finally pushed a puck past Golden Knights goaltender Logan Thompson.

During their first of two power plays, Kirill Kaprizov buried a rebound for his team-leading 29th goal that extended his point streak to eight games. With 14 power-play goals, Kaprizov matched his career high set last season. Joel Eriksson Ek's assist on the play was the 100th of his NHL career.

Thompson turned aside 23 shots before he also left after getting hurt in the third period. Adin Hill took over, making four stops.

After two games in as many nights, the Wild finally get a break on Friday but that's it; they're back in action Saturday against an Eastern Conference powerhouse in the Devils.

"It's better to have a rough patch now than later on," Fleury said. "Once we get out of this, we're going to be better for it."