ST. PAUL - The Minnesota Wild walked away with a 5-2 win over the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 3 to take a 2-1 series lead.
But so far, the Wild have stung together three very good games. Game 1 the Wild played great but lost after a great night fron Golden Knights goaltender Adin Hill.
In Game 2 the Wild poured it on Hill and in Game 3 on Thursday night, the Wild chased Hill out of the crease after two periods.
Kirill Kaprizov got the Wild on the board first after he circled around the net on the power play before firing home a shot from the point. It was Zeev Buium's first NHL point and it came on the power play.
Marco Rossi scored three minutes later to give the Wild a 2-0 lead. Rossi went to the slot after Justin Brazeau and Yakov Trenin got in on the forecheck and did some dirty work.
"It was a good forecheck," Rossi said on the goal. "Our coach was saying for the game, how we have to forecheck to go with it. It was a great pass by Braz to Trenny and Trenny made a really good pass for me. My shot got deflected from the D."
One of the stories coming in the playoffs was how the Wild decided to put Rossi on the fourth line. The 23-year-old center played in all 82 games for the second straight year and was one of their most important players.
Rossi doesn't seem to let the decision affect him.
"Sure. You know, it's the playoffs. I couldn't care less about anything. We wanna win as a team, and it doesn't matter where the coach puts me, you wanna be the best out there and try to help a team to win."
Alex Pietrangelo got Vegas on the board not long after but Matt Boldy was able to hustle out an icing in the second period and make one heck of a play on Noah Hanifin to force a turnover.
"Those guys bring it every night, whether the puck is going in or not. Their work ethic on the ice is - they’re the hardest workers and the most skilled players," Brock Faber said on Kaprizov and Boldy. "When you got two guys who have both of those traits, they’re hard to stop and we’re hard to beat. Definitely fun to watch those two."
Kaprizov and the Wild made it a 4-1 game with two seconds left in the second period after Ryan Hartman fired a shot on the net that hit Kaprizov and went in.
Hartman got the puck on the boards before he looked up at the clock and fired a shot on the net.
"Yeah, I mean, the fans were yelling ‘shoot’ as usual, and you could never really trust how much time is left because it seems they're yelling with 20 seconds left in the period," Hartman said. "Thought I'd give a check, because obviously I didn't want to shoot it after the whistle and I wasn't sure how much time was left. Just trying to throw it. Kirill made a good play there, standing off that far post."
Reilly Smith was able to score on a shorthanded 2-on-1 with William Karlsson to make it a 4-2 game.
It got interesting after that because the Wild took two huge penalties to put Vegas on the power play in a two-goal game.
The Wild were able to kill it off.
"Well, number one, your goalie is your best penalty killer," Wild head coach John Hynes said. "And they did, our penalty kill, did a great job. They had some looks, and he came up with some big saves. I think the attention to detail is really strong. I think the guys that are out there are doing a good job. They're working as a four-man unit. And when you get good goaltending on the penalty kill, number one and number two, you have strong discipline and details of what you need to do and guys are on their assignments, that usually helps."
Filip Gustavsson finished with nine saves on the penalty kill and kept the Wild in the game without allowing Vegas to get back in.
"Oh, he played great," Kaprizov said on Gustavsson. "He played all season, great. But, especially tonight at the end. So many huge saves."
With the win, the Wild are now out in front with a 2-1 series lead. Which is a norm as of late for Minnesota.
In 2022 the Wild had a 2-1 series lead over the St. Louis Blues and in 2023, the Wild had a 2-1 series lead over the Dallas Stars.
They lost both of those in six games.
The hope is the Wild can put that behind them. Game 4 is Saturday at 3:00.
