Vegas delivers gut punch as Knights push Wild to brink of elimination

LAS VEGAS The Minnesota Wild got to the playoffs a inadequate weeks ago with their backs against the wall and no margin for error Maybe that same level of desperation will keep them in the playoffs after an emotional punch to the gut on Tuesday has them facing elimination Brett Howden scored in overtime for the Vegas Golden Knights for a - win in a tournament where Minnesota never led lost its starting goalie to an illness and still looked to have won the encounter with barely a minute left in regulation After all of that drama the Wild s loss gives Vegas a - lead in the best-of-seven series Howden caught a pass from behind the net and beat Marc-Andre Fleury with a quick shot to close out a encounter where the home gang never trailed Contest will be played Thursday evening in St Paul at p m CT I think our guys are obviously disappointed that we lost the championship but I think there s a lot of belief Wild coach John Hynes mentioned You can see the conviction with which we play The last two games could have gone either way It happened to go their way but we ve got another one coming from that So all those little things that come out of this meeting we ll be ready for a battle again and we ll just have to turn the tides and get one Minnesota Wild left wing Matt Boldy reacts after scoring the tying goal against the Vegas Golden Knights during the third period of Battle of a first-round NHL hockey playoff series Tuesday April in Las Vegas AP Photo David Becker Kirill Kaprizov and Matt Boldy maintained their goal-per-game playoff pace scoring in the first and third periods respectively for the Wild who made a furious push but could not get to three Minnesota got saves from starter Filip Gustavsson before he was was lifted after minutes due to illness Fleury played the third period and overtime for Minnesota finishing with six saves but gave up the Vegas game-winner Adin Hill had saves for Vegas For the third consecutive trip to the postseason Minnesota will face elimination in six games after leading the series - Minnesota thought the meeting was won late in regulation only to have an apparent go-ahead goal overturned Ryan Hartman fired a backhander with seconds left that the Vegas goalie stopped only to have the rebound carom off Hartman s leg and in After video review the functionaries declared it a good goal but Vegas then challenged for offside and reviews presented that Gustav Nyquist had crossed the blue line about an inch ahead of the puck so the goal came off the board Thought we had the go-ahead goal there but we brought the battle back to where we needed We had a chance in OT Hartman disclosed Obviously we would have liked if that one counted but we had a chance on the road in OT to win But we re coming back to Minnesota and we need a win at home Nyquist was not made available for interviews by the squad following the battle Minnesota got the battle s first power play which turned out to be good for both teams Vegas struck first on a shorthanded rush when William Karlsson was left with a yawning net to hit for his first goal of the playoffs Vegas fans were still cheering the early lead seconds later when Kaprizov erased it taking a cross-ice pass from Mats Zuccarello and firing a low shot that Hill could not stop It was Kaprizov s fifth goal of the playoffs and a return to form after he was held scoreless in Competition Kirill Kaprizov and Ryan Hartman of the Minnesota Wild celebrate after Kaprizov s power play goal during the first period in Event Five of the First Round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Vegas Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena on April in Las Vegas Nevada Photo by Ethan Miller Getty Images The Knights answered later in the first when a blast from the blue line by Mark Stone beat Gustavsson low Karlsson was at the top of the crease when the shot came in and may have made contact with the goalie before the shot arrived It was enough for Hynes to use a coaches challenge When functionaries ruled it was a good goal the ensuing delay of meeting penalty served by Zuccarello gave Vegas its first power play of the championship The Wild held them off long enough for Zuccarello to leave the penalty box and come in alone on Hill but the goalie stuffed the breakaway to maintain the Knights one-goal lead after minutes The middle frame was just seven seconds old when Boldy was tripped entering the offensive zone giving the Wild their second power play of the night but they put nothing on the scoreboard It was the same for the Knights who had back-to-back power plays midway through the second period but were thwarted by the Wild s improving penalty killers most of notably selected deft pad work by Gustavsson But Gustavsson had been feeling ill all day and was not able to play in after the second intermission The third period drama began before the puck was dropped as Vegas fans saw Fleury coming into the challenge and chanted the name of the participant who backstopped the Golden Knights run to the Stanley Cup Final Minnesota did not allow a shot through to the net for nearly minutes then Boldy took a long lead pass from Joel Eriksson Ek and cut across the goalmouth with Hill leaning the wrong way to knot the count at - It would ve been perfect with a win Fleury stated after the match of his unexpected appearance in Vegas It was the first time Fleury had played since the Wild s regular-season finale when he played in overtime versus Anaheim after Minnesota had clinched a playoff berth This thing is far from over Wild defenseman Brock Faber commented Like I explained they ve still got to beat us We re going to be ready for a war on Thursday Related Articles Jon Merrill returns to Wild defense corps for Tournament During Wild s injury woes Matt Boldy blocked out the noise Wild s Marcus Foligno has been at his best in the playoffs Even after tough loss Hynes confidence in Wild remains unshakable Buium s penalty part of the learning curve for Wild rookie