3 least impressive Minnesota Wild players from 5-1 loss to Vegas Golden Knights feat. Matt Boldy

The Minnesota Wild came into Tuesday night's game against the Vegas Golden Knights in need of a victory to keep their four-point lead in the standings over the St. Louis Blues, who have gotten uncomfortably close in their rear view mirror.

Meanwhile, the Golden Knights were hoping to further expand their division lead over the second place Los Angeles Kings.

They did just that at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, winning by a decisive final score of 5-1 thanks to a hat trick from Jack Eichel and improving to 43-20-8; the Wild are now 40-27-5.

Eichel broke the ice shortly before the midway point of the first period with what would be the first of three goals on the night, giving Vegas the 1-0 lead. Similarly, at the midway point of the game's middle frame, Vegas extended their lead to 2-0 with a tally from Brett Howden.

The Wild managed to halve the Golden Knights' lead thanks to a goal from Marcus Johansson at the 1:42 mark of the third period. However, it's as close as they would come.

Eichel scored on the power play for his second goal of the night, restoring the two-goal lead. Soon afterward, the Golden Knights sealed their win with an empty net goal from Tanner Pearson, his 12th.

Eichel then completed the hat trick with 2:32 remaining in the game, causing goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury to dig the puck out of the net and fire it against the glass in disgust.

Making one of the final regular season starts of his NHL career, Fleury was victimized four times on 37 shots against; meanwhile, Adin Hill stopped all but one of the 24 shots he saw.

3 least impressive Minnesota Wild players from 5-1 loss to Vegas Golden Knights

#1. Matt Boldy

The normally reliable and effective Matt Boldy had one of his poorest performances of the season on Tuesday night.

He was caught out of position multiple times, tying for a team-worst -3 rating while also producing zero points and managing only a single shot on goal along with committing a giveaway.

#2. Marco Rossi

Like Boldy, it was a rough night for Rossi. He tied Boldy for the team worst -3 rating while also producing nothing offensively. He failed to register a single shot on goal, and also was guilty of a giveaway.

#3. Marc-Andre Fleury

While it's never fun to include one of the most popular players in the NHL on a negative list, it just wasn't Fleury's night in net for the Wild against many of his former Golden Knights teammates.

While Fleury did stop 33 shots, he didn't make the saves that he needed to and allowed four goals as part of the 5-1 setback.