The Vegas Golden Knights secured their 30th home win of the season with a 4-2 victory in Game 1 of the first-round series against the Minnesota Wild Sunday night at T-Mobile Arena.
The Golden Knights got goals from Tomas Hertl, Pavel Dorofeyev and Brett Howden, and Adin Hill turned aside 18 of 20 shots for a .900 save percentage. Matt Boldy scored twice for the Wild, who trailed by one late in the third but were unable to net the equalizer.
The Golden Knights never trailed in this game and now lead the best-of-seven series 1-0.
It was a low-event contest, especially for most of the first period, but Hertl created something out of nothing and opened the scoring on an outstanding individual effort. After winning the faceoff, he stripped Brock Faber and then roofed the puck over the shoulder of Filip Gustavsson to give Vegas the 1-0 lead at 15:22.
But less than two minutes later, Kirill Kaprizov sent a cross-seam pass to Boldy, who beat Hill to even things up at 1-1.
Vegas scored the lone goal of the middle frame after getting the first power play of the series. The Golden Knights didn’t waste much time, as it took just six seconds for the NHL’s second-ranked power play to convert.
Hertl won the draw and went to the net to set the screen while Shea Theodore skated along the blue line. Theodore faked the shot to freeze Gustavsson before finding Dorofeyev, who one-timed the puck into the empty net. Dorofeyev’s first career playoff goal gave Vegas the 2-1 lead at 13:33.
The Golden Knights had two breakaways in the second period but failed to capitalize on either. Brandon Saad hit the crossbar, and Jack Eichel was unable to elevate his backhand over Gustavsson, who stayed with him the whole way.
The Wild had a number of good chances, including an especially dangerous look by Marco Rossi shortly after Vegas’ go-ahead goal. But Hill was very sharp in the second, shutting down all seven shots he faced to maintain the 2-1 lead through 40 minutes.
The Golden Knights extended that lead less than three minutes into the third on Howden’s first of the postseason. Nicolas Roy held onto the puck to draw Wild defenseman Zach Bogosian to the middle of the zone before finding Howden. Howden took advantage of the open lane and beat Gustavsson short-side above the shoulder, much like Hertl in the first period.
The Wild got their first power play 7:13 into the third period, but Hill made two massive saves to help Vegas get the critical kill and maintain the two-goal edge.
However, the Kaprizov-Boldy combination struck again in the second half of the frame. It was a broken play, as Kaprizov’s initial shot got blocked, but Boldy picked up the puck behind the net and proceeded to score on the wraparound. Hill was slow to get across, and Vegas couldn’t get a stick on the puck before it crossed the goal line.
Vegas made it difficult for Minnesota to pull the goalie, but the Wild called timeout and got Gustavsson to the bench with 1:22 remaining.
The Wild had control in Vegas’ end, but William Karlsson made a strong defensive play to cut off Zeev Buium’s pass to the boards. On his way up the ice, Karlsson was hauled down by Boldy before he could take a shot at the empty net, which gave Vegas a late power play. Gustavsson eventually made his way back to the bench with around 20 seconds left, but the Golden Knights were able to hold off any final push.
Howden hit the empty net with a buzzer-beater for his second of the game to seal the 4-2 win.
As expected, this was a tightly-checked contest with an emphasis on defensive play rather than trading chances up and down the ice. The Wild made life difficult for Vegas at the blue line, and the Golden Knights clogged the middle of the ice. Vegas blocked 25 shots, both goaltenders came up with big saves, and it was a close game all night.
By no means was it a one-sided affair, and neither team was dominant in any particular facet of the game.
However, as they have done all year, the Golden Knights made the necessary plays and found a way to win. It wasn’t perfect, but Vegas got contributions from throughout the lineup, special teams came through and playoff Adin Hill was rock-solid between the pipes.
The Wild played a very good road game, though, and Minnesota proved that this is not the same team that barely made it into the playoffs. Instead, the Wild showed flashes of the team that started the season 17-4-4 before suffering significant injuries. Kaprizov and Boldy were dangerous all night. The fact that Minnesota stacked its three best offensive players could have simplified things for Vegas, but the Golden Knights still had trouble containing the highly-skilled top line, which scored both goals (technically, Ryan Hartman was on the ice for the second goal instead of Joel Eriksson Ek) and came close to lighting the lamp on several other occasions.
The Golden Knights also struggled on zone entries and exits. It was no surprise that Minnesota sat back, but the Golden Knights tried to be too cute at the blue line for much of the night, especially early, which prevented them from getting extended zone time. They ended up scoring twice off faceoff wins and once on the rush. The Golden Knights will need to rely more on the forecheck and establish more sustained pressure moving forward in the series. The Golden Knights also struggled getting out of their end, which will need to be cleaned up as well.
The Golden Knights’ difficulty on breakaways also reared its head in this one. Again, it didn’t end up costing them, but it’s something that would have changed the face of this game. Clear-cut breakaways are rare in the playoffs, especially against a solid defensive team; the Golden Knights can’t let those chances go to waste.
Aside from Kaprizov’s unit, the Hertl line was the best in the game. Vegas’ second line of Hertl, Dorofeyev and Saad led 19-6 in Corsi, 6-3 in shots, 7-0 in scoring chances and 1-0 in goals while maintaining a 94.53 percent expected goal share. All three players found the scoresheet, combining for four points (though two of those came on the man-advantage).
It was more subtle, but Roy also had a solid game, assisting on Howden’s game-winner and also being the catalyst for an important extended shift in the final few minutes of the game. He generated multiple chances and kept the Wild pinned in their end to kill precious time.
The Golden Knights will look to take a 2-0 lead Tuesday night in Game 2 before the series shifts to Saint Paul for Games 3 and 4.
Statistics courtesy of Natural Stat Trick.