Knights’ Alex Tuch still waiting for elusive win against Wild
Forward Alex Tuch was hoping Monday would finally bring a victory against his former team.
He’s going to have to wait a bit longer despite his early power-play goal that staked the Knights to a 1-0 lead just 3:37 into the game.
The Knights eventually lost 4-2 to drop to 1-4 all-time against Minnesota with the lone win coming in a shootout in the second game of the season on Oct. 6.
“We lost all three games to them last year and then I was injured when we won there. There’s always a little added motivation to finally beat your old team,” Tuch said before the game.
Tuch, who leads the team in points with 39, can take some solace in setting his career-high in goals with 16. He had 15 goals and 37 points for the Knights last season, his first full NHL campaign.
The 22-year-old was acquired as part of an expansion draft day trade from the Wild after he failed to record a point in six games with Minnesota in 2016-17.
He downplayed the significance of his personal milestone after the loss.
“I just want to keep continuing to to make steps to improve every day,” Tuch said. “I mean, you want to win every game. It would’ve been nice, but it didn’t happen so I can’t worry about it too much. Got to move on and worry about Nashville now.”
The Knights host the Predators in a 7 p.m. game on Wednesday. They will have one more shot against the Wild at T-Mobile Arena on March 29.
Heartbreak, party of one
The Westgate sports book posted a proposition wager Monday on whether Knights forward Brandon Pirri would score a goal against the Wild.
They took exactly one bet.
A bettor took a shot on the “Yes” at plus-170 for $10.
Whoever it was had to be jumping out of their seat at the thought of a $17 profit when Pirri got a puck right in front of an open net in the second period.
The ticket became worthless when Pirri failed to corral the puck and sent it wide from point-blank range.
Pirri has scored once in his last five games after recording seven goals in his first eight games with the Knights.
Helping hand
Colin Miller has returned from injured reserve on a mission.
The defenseman assisted on both goals Monday and has recorded multiple points in back-to-back games for the first time in his career after he had two assists Saturday against Pittsburgh in his first game back in the lineup after missing a month.
Miller also had two assists on Dec. 16 against the Rangers, the day before suffering an upper-body injury during a game at Columbus. He sheepishly admitted his confidence is high at the moment.
“I guess so, yeah,” he said. “It took a bit to get back in it there last game. I don’t really focus on that. I think it’s frustrating right now because I thought we played good enough to win tonight, we just had some mental mistakes that hindered us.”
Miller has two goals and 19 assists.
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