Wild jump Vegas early to take a 2-1 series lead

Two Kirill Kaprizov goals make the difference as Minnesota never trailed for the second straight game.

By Jess Myers, Pioneer Press – April 25, 2025

For a team that was average at best when playing at home in the regular season, the Minnesota Wild gave their fans in St. Paul a quick and noisy refresher course on how much fun you can have in the playoffs.

In their first home playoff game in almost exactly two years, the Wild jumped their guests from Nevada early, then pulled away late, beating the Vegas Golden Knights 5-2 on the strength of two Kirill Kaprizov goals and taking a 2-1 lead in their best-of-seven series.

Matt Boldy, who has been one of the NHL’s most prolific playoff scorers so far this April, added a goal of his own, and the Wild got 30 saves from Filip Gustavsson.

After never leading in Game 1 of the series — a 4-2 loss in Las Vegas — the Wild have not trailed, winning Game 2 by a 5-2 count after taking a 4-0 lead on Sunday, and grabbing leads of 2-0 and 4-1 on Tuesday.

“It always feels good when you win games,” Kaprizov said. “We don’t care now who scored and who have how many points and whatever. You just want to win games. Just have a team game.”

Minnesota Wild center Marco Rossi (23) celebrates after scoring during the first period of Game 3 of a first-round NHL hockey playoff series against the Vegas Golden Knights, Thursday, April 24, 2025, in St. Paul, Minn. | AP Photo/Abbie Parr

Vegas got 17 saves from starting goalie Adin Hill, who was lifted after 40 minutes. Akira Schmid came on in relief and stopped nine Wild shots in the third period.

Leading 2-1 in the second period, Minnesota appeared to be just hanging on as Vegas had the puck and the momentum. But Boldy re-established some breathing room with a highlight reel play for his fourth goal in three games.

From the far blue line, Boldy chipped a puck into the Vegas zone, then chased it down where he caught up to Knights defenseman Noah Hanifin behind the net. Boldy won the battle for the puck, then curled to the top of the crease where he beat Hill to make it 3-1.

Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy later said icing should have been called on the play, saying the officials blew the call.

The Wild got a power play with less than two minutes remaining and beat the clock to take a three-goal lead. With under five seconds remaining, Kaprizov zipped a pass to Ryan Hartman on the edge of the right circle. Hartman glanced up at the scoreboard briefly, then threw the puck to the goalmouth, where it glanced off Kaprizov and over the goal line with 1.3 seconds remaining.

“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.”

The Knights got a shorthanded goal from Reilly Smith in the latter half of the third.

The Wild’s penalty-killers, much-maligned all season, negated three Vegas power plays in the final period and were 4 of 4 in the game.

“Well, number one,  your goalie is your best penalty killer. And they did, our penalty kill, a great job. They had some looks, and he came up with some big saves,” coach John Hynes said. “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,” Hynes said. “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.”

With Vegas on a man advantage and Schmid on the bench, Marcus Foligno hit an empty net with 1:33 left in regulation, sending the sellout crowd into a towel-waving frenzy.

Members of the Vegas Golden Knights and Minnesota Wild get into a scrum in the first period of Game Three of the First Round of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Xcel Energy Center on April 24, 2025 in St Paul, Minnesota. | Photo by David Berding/Getty Images)\

Vegas, which bowed out in the first round a year ago after winning the Stanley Cup in 2023, got a first-period goal from defenseman Alex Pietrangelo but has been frustrated by Minnesota’s defense for the last 120 minutes. Most notably, the Knights’ top line of Ivan Barbashev, Jack Eichel and Mark Stone has been kept in check, with zero points through three games.

“It’s the neutral zone. Eichel is a fast guy, and they’re very skilled through the neutral zone,” Gustavsson said. “I feel like we have a good gap on them and are disturbing their puck touches there and affecting their entries. So we’re doing a good job there.”

In a series where power plays have been few and far between, the Wild got their third and fourth man-advantage situations of the playoffs in quick succession early in the first period, and they got the crowd into the game in short order.

After a pass from rookie defenseman Zeev Buium, Kaprizov circled the offensive zone with the puck, firing a rocket from the blue line that beat Hill on the glove side for a 1-0 lead. It was the first NHL point for Buium, who was playing in his third career game.

Vegas killed the second penalty, but it couldn’t keep the Wild from doubling their lead.

With Minnesota’s fourth line on the ice, Yakov Trenin fed a pass from behind the net to Rossi, who was waiting in the high slot. Rossi got off a quick shot that found the back of the net for the Austrian center’s first career playoff goal and a 2-0 lead.

But with the teams skating four-on-four near the midway point of the first, Vegas defenseman Alex Pietrangelo ripped a slap shot from just inside the blue line that fooled Gustavsson between the knees.

The goal seemed to ignite the Knights, who were the aggressors until the first intermission. But Gustavsson, along with seven blocked shots by the Wild, kept Minnesota in the lead after 20 minutes.

The shot-blocking began to take its toll in the middle frame, as Kaprizov took a puck off the skate that left him slipping off the ice with only one blade, and defenseman Brock Faber limped off on the next shift after putting his body in harm’s way. Faber returned a short time later.

The ice was tilted for the first half of the second period, with Vegas looking like the tying goal was coming at any second. But Minnesota killed its first penalty of the game, then brought the crowd back to life with Boldy’s individual effort to boost the lead back to two goals.

“Eventually, we did get to it, but we could’ve started better, for sure, and that’s why we got ourselves in penalty trouble,” Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy said. “And that’s always good for the other team to get some touches, and they get going and you’re not using your bench. Eventually, you’ve got to work your way out of it, and we did.”

Game 4 of the best-of-seven series is Saturday afternoon in St. Paul, with the opening faceoff slated for 3 p.m. CDT.

TOP PHOTO:  Kirill Kaprizov #97 of the Minnesota Wild celebrates his power-play goal against the Vegas Golden Knights in the second period of Game Three of the First Round of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Xcel Energy Center on April 24, 2025 in St Paul, Minnesota. | David Berding/Getty Images