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Vegas leads series 3-2
Sitting on the brink of elimination, the Minnesota Wild wanted to head home to play a game 6, not to head home eliminated. So they made sure their was a game 6. Kirill Kaprizov scored his first career playoff goal, Zach Parise scored, and the Wild topped the Vegas Golden Knights with a 4-2 win Monday night to keep their season alive.
Wild coach Dean Evason said "The guys believed. The looks we were getting, the goals we scored tonight, that's what we've talked about. We just have to believe in that. The guys did persevere, and it's something that's inside them. It's a standard they have set for themselves that they don't panic, and we didn't do that tonight."
Parise, who was a healthy scratch for the first 3 games of this series, made his return to the lineup in game 4, and in game 5, potted a first period goal, which put Minnesota in front 2-1, and also put them in the lead for good. The 3 goals scored by the Wild in the first period ended up being the difference in the game.
Kaprizov scored first, tying the game at 1-1 9:06 into the first. It was then Parise who scored just under 3 minutes later, to give Minnesota a 2-1 lead. Jordan Greenway then scored just before the end of the period, and the Wild had a 3-1 advantage after 20 minutes. In the 3rd, Nico Sturm scored on an empty net to make it 4-2 Wild.
Evason said "Guys are committed. They're committed to each other. The vibe that they had and the feeling they had towards each other, we knew we were going to have the effort we had. Definitely proud of the group with that."
Cam Talbot stopped 38 shots for the Wild as they got back in the win column for the first time since game one, getting a .950 save percentage for the game. Kaprizov's first period goal was the first time Minnesota had scored since Joel Eriksson Ek scored in the first period of game 3 on Thursday night.
For Vegas, Mark Stone scored to give them a 1-0 lead early on in the first period. In the second period, after the Wild had scored 3 straight goals, Alec Martinez scored on the power play to cut the lead to 3-2, but Vegas couldn't crack Talbot for the rest of the night.
Stone said of the loss that "I thought we played a pretty solid game. we had lots of chances and could've easily tied that game up, or could've easily been ahead. If we capitalize on a few chances, I think we're sitting here with a different outcome. We can't be down 3-1 after the first period. It finally cost us. We've been down a couple games and been able to claw our way back, but today just couldn't get it done."
Game 6 is on Wednesday night, with the Wild hoping to force game 7, and Vegas looking to move on to the second round.
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