Blog: Golden Knights even series with Game 2 victory over Wild

By Justin Emerson

Published Tuesday, May 18, 2021 | 3 p.m.

Updated Tuesday, May 18, 2021 | 9:51 p.m.

The Golden Knights went nearly five periods worth of hockey in their first-round series with the Minnesota Wild without scoring. Once they did, it was enough to carry them to a Game 2 win.

Jonathan Marchessault answered Minnesota's first goal of the game to tie it, and Alex Tuch netted the eventual game winner at the end of the second period to carry Vegas to a 3-1 win over the Wild at T-Mobile Arena on Tuesday.

Matt Dumba opened the scoring for the Wild at the 12:07 mark with what could have easily been a back-breaker. The Wild had a tremendous first period where only strong play from goalie Marc-Andre Fleury kept Vegas in it, and the Golden Knights couldn't muster anything offensively. After a shutout in Game 1, the Golden Knights could have easily spiraled after Dumba's goal.

Marchessault had other ideas. He fired from the right circle just 18 seconds after Dumba's tally to even the score and bring the crowd to its feet. Tuch swatted home a Mattias Janmark feed later in the period, and just like that the Golden Knights had their first two goals of the series.

The Wild had a ferocious push looking for the tying goal in the third period. They pulled goalie Cam Talbot with 1:53 to go, but Kirill Kaprizov took a tripping call 23 seconds later to put them on the penalty kill, all but ending their comeback hopes. Tuch even had a power-play goal to ice it.

Fleury finished with 34 saves in the victory, as the Wild led in final shots on goal 35-28.

Check back to lasvegassun.com later for more coverage and read below for live updates from the game.

Golden Knights break scoring drought, grab lead over Wild

It took the Golden Knights 95 minutes, 45 seconds of hockey this series to finally score a goal.

Jonathan Marchessault gave the T-Mobile Arena crowd a reason to cheer for the first time in two games, as he netted the Golden Knights' first of the series just 18 seconds after the Wild scored to take the lead. Alex Tuch added to the fun at the end of the frame, and after two the Golden Knights led the Wild 2-1.

You could almost feel the nervous energy crank up to 11 when Matt Dumba scored 12:07 into the second period. He settled the puck at the right point and fired a seeing-eye wrister into traffic that beat Marc-Andre Fleury for the first time on the night. It was only the Wild's second goal of the series, but it gave them a short-lived lead.

Because Marchessault answered with what could prove to be one of the most important goals of Vegas' season. The longer the game went with Minnesota in the lead the longer doubt would creep into the Golden Knights' minds. Instead, Marchessault caught Reilly Smith's pass on his zone entry, found a lane between two Wild and beat goalie Cam Talbot high to the glove side 18 seconds after Dumba's goal.

Then as the period was coming to a close, Tuch gave the Golden Knights their first lead of the first. Mattias Janmark chased down an Alex Pietrangelo rebound, won the race to the puck and centered it in front of the net. Tuch was there to whack it home, and gave an emphatic two-armed pump with 2:41 left in the period.

Vegas led the second period 13-10 in shots, and trailed 27-23 for the game.

The Golden Knights also played the second period short-handed. Forward Tomas Nosek left the game in the first period and did not return for the second, leaving Vegas with 17 skaters,

Golden Knights start slow, but still tied with Wild after one period

It's been a long time since the Golden Knights were worked in the first period like the way they were Tuesday. If not for the play of their goalie they would be chasing a lead, and likely a big one.

The Wild dominated the first period of Game 2, doing to the Golden Knights what the Golden Knights did to them in Game 1. Marc-Andre Fleury made 17 saves to keep the Wild off the board, and the game went to the first intermission in a 0-0 draw at T-Mobile Arena.

The Golden Knights didn't get the hot start they talked about this morning. It was far closer to the opposite of that. The Wild had seven of the first nine shots of the game, several from high-danger areas and even had a power play just past the four-minute mark of the game.

Vegas hung tough thanks to Fleury, who carried over his stellar play from Game 1 into the early parts of Game 2. The Wild had just under 2 expected goals in all of Game 1, according to Natural Stat Trick. They surpassed an expected goal by the first TV timeout on Tuesday and had 1.82 expected goals by the end of the period.

The Golden Knights had their best chance in the final minute of the period. They got the advantage they wanted, with Mark Stone's line taking an offensive-zone draw against Minnesota's fourth line. Stone even had a breakaway chance, but the puck slid off his stick just enough for Wild goalie Cam Talbot to poke it away.

Minnesota led 17-10 in shots on goal after a period.

Urgency rises as Golden Knights look to even series with Wild

The Golden Knights felt like they did a lot of things right in Game 1 against the Wild, especially early on but didn't get the outcome they wanted.

Now facing the threat of a 2-0 series deficit at home, Vegas knows the importance of Game 2, which is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. at T-Mobile Arena. The Golden Knights need a victory and will look to replicate the process of what they did early in Game 1, but hopefully with a better result.

"We need a great start tonight. We need to lead after the first period," forward Jonathan Marchessault said. "There's no secret that we've got to be ready right from the puck drop and if we do that we should be in good position for the rest of the game."

The first period on Sunday was the Golden Knights' best, outshooting Minnesota 19-5. The rest of the game was pretty even, but Vegas missed a great opportunity to put the Wild on their heels early. A bouncing puck in overtime turned a strong game from the home team into a 1-0 loss.

Minnesota is a strong defensive team that excels in low-event games where it doesn't have to chase the game. The Wild were 23-5-2 when scoring first in the regular season, but just 12-11-3 when allowing the first goal.

Granted, the same is true of the Golden Knights. They were an eye-popping 31-3-2 when they scored first, but 9-11-0 when they didn't. It does underscore a major point of this game. In a game with two strong defensive teams, one can't afford to have a 19-5 shot advantage in a period and not come out of it with a lead.

"I thought we had those intentions in Game 1; we just didn't finish off one of the chances we had," Vegas coach Pete DeBoer said of playing fast. "That can change the game, especially against a defensively structured team like Minnesota. You can't play the same way behind as you do when you're out in front defensively. That's going to be a key I think in this whole series."

The Golden Knights are expected to again play without leading goal-scorer Max Pacioretty, who did not take part in morning skate today, though it was optional. He has not skated with the team since he left the game on May 1 early.

And though the Golden Knights used an every-other-game rotation throughout much of the regular season with their goalies, Marc-Andre Fleury was the first goalie off the ice at morning skate, a typical indicator of that night's starter. He also played Game 1, making 29 saves in a terrific performance.

With the Game 1 loss, Vegas will have to win at least one game at Xcel Energy Center to win the series. Asking to win two is a tall task for a team that has won there twice all-time, so a win tonight feels almost necessary for the Golden Knights' chances in the series.

Sunday was the first time in four series that started at T-Mobile Arena that the Golden Knights lost Game 1 at home. The good news is that they've lost Game 1 three times and have come back to win Game 2 in each of those instances (they are 1-2 in the series overall).

The Golden Knights know how to shake off a playoff loss. They'll need to do it again tonight.

"You can't get too high or low in the playoffs," defenseman Brayden McNabb. "You get a win, you can't think you're winning the Stanley Cup; you lose, you can't think you're going home. It's a little bit of a roller coaster and if you can stay even-keeled through the whole playoffs, you'll have success.

"We lost Game 1, maybe could have won it, but I know we could have played better definitely for a full 60 minutes. We need to learn from that, be ready for (tonight) and come out with a good effort."

Stanley Cup Playoffs Round 1

Series: Wild lead 1-0

TV: AT&T SportsNet (DirecTV 684, Cox 1313, CenturyLink 1760)

Radio: Fox Sports 1340 AM and 98.9 FM

Betting line: Golden Knights minus-160, Wild plus-140; over/under: 5.5 (plus-110, minus-130)

Golden Knights (0-1, West Division No. 2 seed)

Coach: Pete DeBoer (second season)

Points leader: none

Goals leader: none

Assists leader: none

Expected goalie: Marc-Andre Fleury (0.96 GAA, .967 save percentage)

Wild (1-0, West Division No. 3 seed)

Coach: Dean Evason (second season)

Points leaders: Joel Eriksson Ek, Marcus Foligno, Jordan Greenway (1)

Goals leader:Joel Eriksson Ek (1)

Assists leaders: Marcus Foligno, Jordan Greenway (1)

Expected goalie: Cam Talbot (0.00 GAA, 1.000 save percentage)

Golden Knights projected lineup

Forwards

Alex Tuch—Chandler Stephenson—Mark Stone

Jonathan Marchessault—William Karlsson—Reilly Smith

Mattias Janmark—Nicolas Roy—Keegan Kolesar

William Carrier—Tomas Nosek—Ryan Reaves

Defensemen

Alec Martinez—Alex Pietrangelo

Brayden McNabb—Shea Theodore

Nicolas Hague—Zach Whitecloud

Goalies

Marc-Andre Fleury, Robin Lehner