LAS VEGAS (AP) — The Vegas Golden Knights‘ home arena has a reputation among some NHL players as being one of the toughest to pl

LAS VEGAS (AP) — The Vegas Golden Knights‘ home arena has a reputation among some NHL players as being one of the toughest to play in and loudest in the league.The Minnesota Wild don’t mind it a bit.Charlie Coyle scored his second game-winning goal of the season with 5:31 remaining Monday to lift the Wild past the Golden Knights 4-2.Minnesota Adidas Steven Kampfer Jersey , which is 4-0-1 against the Golden Knights since they entered the league, is 2-0-0 in Vegas.“It’s a huge win obviously. You get into the later part of the season, so make sure you get every point you can, especially those (close) games,” Coyle said. “It’s a pretty good show here, it’s cool to watch, it’s cool to be part of — we love playing here.”With the puck loose in front of the net, Jared Spurgeon sent a perfect pass to Coyle, who beat Vegas goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury with a high shot that put the Wild in front.Marcos Foligno, Eric Staal and Mikko Koivu also scored for the Wild. Devan Dubnyk, who has stopped 64 of 67 shots in his last three games, made 30 saves to improve to 3-0-1 against Vegas.Dubnyk said he was pleased to see faithful Wild fans among the announced crowd of 18,328, and that hearing chants of “Doob! Doob!” after several big saves ignited his play down the stretch.“This is only our second time here Adidas Zach Bogosian Jersey , the atmosphere in the building is incredible,” Dubnyk said. “It’s cool, we get a pretty good following in certain buildings, Colorado will be another one, there’s lots of people from Minnesota that travel there. It makes playing on the road a little more exciting because you got fans cheering. It definitely makes it a lot more entertaining.”Alex Tuch and Max Pacioretty scored for the Golden Knights, while Fleury made 18 saves.Vegas, which remained in third place in the Pacific Division behind first-place Calgary and San Jose, came into the game after an emotional 7-3 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday. But coach Gerard Gallant rebuked the notion his team came in flat after its up-tempo game with the Penguins.“They scored three goals from the blue paint basically and Flower played an outstanding game when he had to make saves, but he’s not gonna stop them when guys are leaving them wide open in the back door,” Gallant said. “I don’t think we played good today, I don’t think we showed up ready to play a team that was aggressive for points. I don’t think we played hard enough.”Especially when the Knights had an opportunity to seize control of the game with a 5-on-3 power play, after Ryan Suter was called for slashing 15 seconds into the third period, and Marcus Foligno was sent off for delay of game 49 seconds later.Minnesota came into the game boasting the league’s second-best penalty kill, and limited Vegas to just two shots on goal during its power play Joakim Nordstrom Jersey Womens , while blocking five other shots. The Wild has been successful on 23 of their last 26 penalty kill situations.“I thought once we killed the 5-on-3 it really energized the bench and they thought they were going to do anything not to lose at that point,” Minnesota coach Bruce Boudreau said. “Anytime you can kill a 5-on-3, that team usually wins.”Vegas did get one power-play goal, though, after Jonathan Marchessault drove into the offensive zone and delayed just enough to draw Dubnyk to his left before feeding Tuch, who gave Vegas a 1-0 lead. The Wild answered with two second-period goals in a span of 1:13 with scores by Foligno and Staal. Vegas tied the game when Paul Stastny found USA Hockey linemate Pacioretty, whose shot beat Dubnyk between the pads. Koivu’s empty-net goal with 13 seconds left was the 200th goal of his career.The victory moved the Wild past Dallas, Colorado and Vancouver in the Western Conference wild-card race, and into third place in the Central Division. Minnesota takes on Colorado on Wednesday, the final game before the All-Star break for both teams.“Believe me, it’s not gonna stay this way,” Boudreau said. “There’s gonna be a lot of interchanges before this season is out. But every time you can pick up two points, you’re closer to being where you want to be.”NOTES: Vegas and Minnesota announced a trade after the game. The Golden Knights acquired a 2019 fifth-round draft pick for D Brad Hunt and a 2019 sixth-round pick. … Vegas D Colin Miller had two assists, and has four in his first two games back after missing 13 games. … Marchessault is two assists shy of 100 in his career. … Wild C Matt Hendricks was a healthy scratch Christopher Tanev Jersey , and remains one game shy of playing in the 600th of his career. … Minnesota W Jason Zucker grew up in Las Vegas before moving to Los Angeles for hockey for two years when he was 11. … The Golden Knights are 15-6-3 since the start of December, and 6-3-0 in 2019.UP NEXTMinnesota: At Colorado on Wednesday.Golden Knights: Host Nashville on Wednesday. CALGARY, Alberta — Intense rivalries often bring out the best in athletes.That’s what fans will be hoping for when the Calgary Flames (10-8-1) host the first installment of the Battle of Alberta against the Edmonton Oilers (9-8-1) at the Scotiabank Saddledome on Saturday night.“Obviously it’s exciting playing against those guys,” said Flames forward Johnny Gaudreau. “It’s a good tradition playing against those guys. They get excited for those games and so do we. It’s going to be a lot of fun and we’re really looking forward to it.”Article continues below ...Gaudreau will be looking to snap out of a personal four-game scoreless streak, while also helping the Flames rebound from their second straight setback, a 3-2 loss to the visiting Montreal Canadiens on Thursday night.“I think our line has had a lot of good chances here in the past two, three games, and they’re just not dropping in right now for us,” said Gaudreau, who is tied with linemates Sean Monahan and Elias Lindholm at 19 points for second in scoring on the Flames (behind Matthew Tkachuk’s 21 points). “We’ve got to roll with the punches here and they’ll start coming.”While the Flames lost to Montreal on Thursday, the Oilers skated to a convincing 6-2 win over the Canadiens two nights earlier in Edmonton.Now, after a short rest and a couple days of practice, the Oilers are ready for their first game against a Pacific Division foe this season.“The Battle of Alberta definitely gets you wound up and gets you going,” said Oilers coach Todd McLellan. “Any time you play a rival — it doesn’t matter if it’s Alberta or in Ontario or in another league or another sport — the fans get excited about it and the players get excited about it. Both teams are improving and pushing for a playoff spot.“I know it’s very early in the year Authentic Daniel Sedin Jersey , but these games become vitally important as they add up throughout the season. Our group will be excited about going there.”Since the Oilers also play at home on Sunday against the Vegas Golden Knights (8-10-1), McLellan has opted to start backup goalie Mikko Koskinen against the Flames before bouncing right back with netminder Cam Talbot the next night.“Two games, we’re at home and we’re on the road,” McLellan said. “One team went to the Stanley Cup Finals last year and the other team is a rival. We just decided that we would play Mikko on the road to experience the rivalry and Talbs at home in the back-to-back.”Although Flames bench boss Bill Peters announced on Friday that goaltender David Rittich will get the start against the Oilers, he added that he won’t be afraid to go back to Mike Smith, who let in the game-winning goal through his legs in the third period on Thursday to Montreal forward Artturi Lehkonen.“We’re going to keep putting him in there when the time is right and away you go,” said Peters of Smith. “He’ll get another chance and when you get the chance, seize the opportunity.”Rittich made 21 saves for his first NHL shutout against the Kings in Los Angeles in his last start last Saturday.“I feel good, but it’s another game and you have to be prepared for it,” said Rittich, who has a 5-1-0 record to go with a 1.91 goals-against average and a .935 save percentage. “What happened last game, it happened. Everyone in our locker room has to be prepared for another game. It’s going to be a great atmosphere here and we want to win.”In a one-for-one deal that was announced on Friday, the Oilers acquired Ryan Spooner from the New York Rangers in exchange for fellow forward Ryan Strome.