ST. PAUL, Minn. -- The Minnesota Wild may be halfway home in the Western Conference First Round against the Vegas Golden Knights, but it’s not time to celebrate.
The Wild lead the best-of-7 series 2-1 after a 5-2 victory in Game 3. Game 4 will be at Xcel Energy Center on Saturday (4 p.m. ET; FDSNNO, SCRIPPS, MAX, truTV, TBS, TVAS2, SN360).
Teams holding a 2-1 lead in a playoff series have advanced 68.8 percent of the time, but in their history, the Wild have led a best-of-7 series 2-1 four times and finished the job once.
Two seasons ago, the Wild won two of the first three games against the Dallas Stars in the first round, but didn’t win again. The 2022 first round series against the St. Louis Blues is even more of a cautionary tale.
The Wild lost the first game to the Blues and then won the next two by a combined score of 11-3. They lost the next three games by a combined score of 15-5.
After losing Game 1 against the Golden Knights, Minnesota has outscored Vegas 10-4 in winning Games 2 and 3.
The Wild don’t want history to repeat itself.
“It's that time of year where every goal, every play, every puck matters, you know?” Wild forward Matt Boldy said. “They're one of the best teams in the NHL, and they have some special players. They're going to make changes. We're going to make changes and adjustments, too. It's kind of having that mindset that you approach every day with that same mentality that you go in and it's a do-or-die game.”
That’s what coach John Hynes stressed Friday to his team: Don’t look ahead, live in the moment. He said the fact that the Wild didn’t know their fate until the final game of their regular season has helped reinforce the need to finish.
“I think our experience down the stretch, it wasn’t fun going through it,” he said. “You’d like to be in with seven or eight games left in the season, but again it was right there. We couldn’t get the fish in the boat fast enough, but we couldn’t look ahead. We could want to get that X next to our name (in the standings) without going through the process. We just have to go through the process.”
Here is a breakdown of Game 4:
Golden Knights: The Golden Knights need to get offense from their top line. They’ve scored eight goals in this series, but none from the trio of Mark Stone, Jack Eichel and Ivan Barbashev. To generate more offense and more high-danger plays, the Golden Knights, and in particular the top line, must get inside on the Wild defense. “I guess where I’d say we’ve got to be better is taking away the goalie’s eyes once you do get your action at the net,” Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said. “Got to get ready for a rebound chance or two.”
Wild: Marcus Johansson sustained an injury in the third period of Game 3, and will not play. It will have a domino effect on multiple lines. Vinnie Hinostroza will enter the lineup and play his first playoff game since 2020. It will be a tough task for the Wild, who seek to go up 3-1 in a best-of-7 series for the first time in their history.
Number to know: Zeev Buium (19 years, 138 days) became the second-youngest player in Wild history to record his first playoff point, behind Pierre-Marc Bouchard, who was 119 days younger, in 2003. The defenseman got his first point in Game 3, an assist on the game-opening goal by Kaprizov.
What to look for: How much patience Cassidy has before he makes changes. Judging from practice on Friday, the Golden Knights will go with the same lines and defense pairs that played in the first three games. Adin Hill, who has an .825 save percentage and was pulled after two periods in Game 3, is also expected back in net. “Sometimes when you switch lines this time of year it can be viewed as panic,” Cassidy said. “We don't want to send that message. We do have to understand that if it's not working, eventually we will have to look at that. I'll tell you though, it's in the back of your mind. It has to be if you're not getting the results, but we're not there yet."
