Minnesota @ Vegas preview

Last Meeting ( Jan 21, 2019 ) Minnesota 4, Vegas 2

A three-game losing streak has stalled the Vegas Golden Knights' drive to the postseason but they will make their third attempt at wrapping up a playoff berth when they host the Minnesota Wild on Friday night. The recent slide also dimmed Vegas' hopes of overtaking the San Jose Sharks for second place in the Pacific Division.

The Golden Knights, who were on a 10-1-0 hot stretch before cooling off, lamented another slow start after falling into a three-goal hole in Wednesday's 4-3 loss in Colorado. "We should be battling from the first shift. That's where we lost the game," coach Gerard Gallant said after his team fell to 19-19-1 on the road. It shapes up as a must-win for Minnesota, which has scored only one goal in dropping two in a row to fall four points behind Colorado for the second wild card. "This is the most pivotal time of the year for us, and we can't have games where the pucks just don't find a way into the net," forward Ryan Donato said after the Wild lost for the ninth time in 12 goals (3-6-3) with a 1-0 home setback versus Nashville.

TV: 10 p.m. ET, FS North-Plus (Minnesota), AT&T Sports Network-Rocky Mountain (Las Vegas)

ABOUT THE WILD (35-33-9): Forward Zach Parise, who leads the team in goals (26) and points (59), returned to practice Thursday after sitting out the past two games due to a lower-body injury and will be a game-time decision, coach Bruce Boudreau said. Parise, who was in the midst of a four-game point streak before he was injured, has one goal and one assist in four matchups against Vegas. Center Joel Eriksson Ek, sidelined the past seven games with a lower-body injury, also practiced Thursday and "looked ready to go," Boudreau said.

ABOUT THE GOLDEN KNIGHTS (42-29-6): Vegas has fallen into an early hole in each of the last three games and has led for a total of 65 seconds, so the team is putting an emphasis on coming out strong Friday night. “We’ve got to come in here, we’ve got to recognize these teams are playing desperate but we have to play desperate too," said Alex Tuch, who had a goal and an assist in Wednesday's loss. “We’re not going to do anything in the playoffs if we’re playing like this.” Forward Reilly Smith has scored five goals in his last five games.

OVERTIME

1. The Wild are 4-0-1 against the Golden Knights, including a 4-2 win at Las Vegas on Jan. 21.

2. Vegas G Malcolm Subban has lost all three career starts against Minnesota.

3. Wild G Devan Dubnyk is 3-0-1 with seven goals allowed in four starts versus Vegas.

PREDICTION: Wild 3, Golden Knights 2