Golden Knights ease past Wild, clinch final playoff berth in West

Khusnutdinov’s first NHL goal in his 13th game cut it to 3-1 on the power play at 7:42 of the second period. He scored in front with a tip of Brock Faber’s shot from the point.

“It’s a dream. It’s a good feeling. Guys helped me,” Khusnutdinov said. “We lost the game. My goal didn’t help the team.”

Jonathan Marchessault scored a power-play goal from the slot to make it 4-1 at 13:12, and Hertl increased it to 5-1 at 2:27 of the third period, chasing down a rebound in the left face-off circle and beating Fleury to the short side.

It was Hertl’s third game since being traded from the San Jose Sharks on March 8. He didn’t debut for Vegas until Monday because he was recovering from having knee surgery Feb. 12.

“It was awesome, you know,” Hertl said. “Everybody was definitely happy, even the fans. It was just a great feeling. I’m more happy about the win and clinching the playoffs today, but [it] definitely feels really good to score the first one here in the building because it’s a lot of fun to play here.”

Hartman cut it to 5-2 at 7:13 with Fleury off for an extra attacker during a delayed penalty. His shot from the left circle deflected off Hanifin’s stick at the right side of the net.

Karlsson gave the Golden Knights a 6-2 lead at 10:49, and Keegan Kolesar scored at 13:55 for the 7-2 final.

“I like the way we’re trending,” Cassidy said. “I think the guys know the light is at the end of the tunnel. Now that we’ve punched our ticket, we can start working on our game and figure out who our opponent is. I think you’ll see a lot of energy around the team in the next week or so.”

NOTES: Marchessault scored his team-leading 42nd goal and is one shy of the Golden Knights record for most in a season, set by Karlsson in 2017-18. … Hanifin had two assists in his first game since signing an eight-year, $58.8 million contract ($7.35 average annual value) on Thursday. … Wild forward Liam Ohgren made his NHL debut. He had two shots on goal and was minus-1 in 14:07 of ice time.