Smith: Wild found formula to ‘frustrate' Golden Knights, take lead in series

New York Times

25-04-2025

ST. PAUL, Minn. — After Tuesday's Game 2 win in Vegas, Wild captain Jared Spurgeon addressed the team in the dressing room.
The group has traded in their 'HARD' chain tradition for players of the game; now they pass out the game puck, with it getting put into a case after each win. There are 16 spots for the 16 wins needed to win the Stanley Cup.
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Spurgeon held the puck after the 5-2 win, bringing up why Minnesota feels they can collect more pucks than people think this postseason.
'We all saw the way we have to play to frustrate them,' Spurgeon said of the Golden Knights. 'Every line. Every D-pair.'
The Wild certainly have found a working formula this series, with Thursday's win — another 5-2 victory — at a sold-out Xcel Energy Center the latest example. The Golden Knights are the former champs, the favorites, the ones with — sorry, Minnesota fans — a more reliable playoff track record.
But the Wild are deservedly in the driver's seat, holding a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series. They've flustered and frustrated the Golden Knights, bottling up their top players (Jack Eichel and Mark Stone have zero points in three games). They've battered Vegas' big, touted blueline with a relentless forecheck, forcing them into uncharacteristic mistakes. They're getting better goaltending, with Filip Gustavsson's nine shorthanded saves down the stretch a difference-maker. The Wild's best players are dominant, with Kirill Kaprizov and Matt Boldy taking over.
Minnesota came in feeling like they had 'nothing to lose,' as Marcus Foligno put it, but what we've seen is no fluke. They have been the better team for a large chunk of this series.
'We're a confident group,' Ryan Hartman said. 'We were a top team all season. Top five in the league throughout most of the year. And we lost some key guys. You can see out there right now, they're a big part of our team.'
The series is far from over, as Wild fans can attest, having seen their team hold a lead in each of the Wild's last four first-round playoff defeats (including a 2-1 advantage in the past two). But Kaprizov and Boldy are playing like they're not going to let their team lose. The dynamic duo has combined for eight goals and 13 points in the first three games, including three goals Thursday. Kaprizov started the game off with a long-range, seeing-eye shot through traffic for a power play goal. Boldy, who has shown a more mature, engaged style since the 4 Nations Face-Off, then came through. He stripped Noah Hanifin on the forecheck, darted in front of the net and beat Adin Hill for his fourth goal of the playoffs.
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Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy called Kaprizov a 'second, third, fourth effort' kind of player, a star who doesn't take 'no' for an answer. Boldy is looking a lot like him lately. They're the second set of teammates in the past 30 years to start a postseason with multiple points in each of their first three games (Jaromir Jagr and Jan Hrdina in 2000).
Matt Boldy furiously putting together a sizzle tape these playoffs pic.twitter.com/mgdYVNW4Gj
— Pete Blackburn (@PeteBlackburn) April 25, 2025
'He's got some confidence from the 4 Nations,' Cassidy said of Boldy. 'He's got a world-class player beside him, that helps. But that's how a pair works sometimes. They've got the guy in the middle (Joel Eriksson Ek) who does all the dirty work. The goal Boldy scored … he took it to the net and buried it. He took it inside the other night when he stuffed one. He's going to the net. He's going to the dirty areas. That's what you've got to do to score this time of year.'
The Golden Knights did a lot of their damage during the regular season off the rush, but the Wild have limited those chances in the first three games. Vegas has found a way to get a decent amount of zone possession time, but they haven't been able to get inside as much as they want. Their blueline, a catalyst for their team, has been coughing up the puck at abnormal levels. According to NHL Network analyst and Sportlogiq director of analytics Mike Kelly, Vegas has allowed six turnover goals in three games — the most of any playoff team. They had given up the fourth fewest during the regular season.
'Every time you turn back, taking a hit, it wears on you,' Brock Faber said. 'It makes you think twice sometimes. So far, our forward core has been incredible in that and making their D feel that pressure throughout the game. That energy, that commitment to finishing your hit, skating and working, is what's allowed us to make this thing 2-1 so far.'
like we said, BIG DAWG IS EATING 🫎 pic.twitter.com/CxO6Abjta0
— x – Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) April 25, 2025
Faber and Jonas Brodin, along with shutdown center Eriksson Ek, have done an excellent job containing the Golden Knights' top line of Eichel, Stone and Ivan Barbashev. In 9:37 of head to head at five-on-five with Kaprizov and Eichel on the ice, the Wild outshot Vegas 15-8 in attempts, earning a 77-percent expected-goals rate.
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'To us, it's a little wakeup call,' Barbashev said. 'Just got to be harder as a team.'
The Golden Knights pulled to within 2-1 midway through the first on a long-range shot by Alex Pietrangelo. Gustavsson was ticked off he let that one in, calling it a 'soft' goal. But the Swedish goaltender bounced back in a big way, and his team gave him more support. The backbreaking goal came in the final seconds of the second period, when Hartman showed the presence of mind to look up at the scoreboard for the time before flinging a shot on net (which bounced in off Kaprizov).
'The fans were yelling, 'Shoot!' as usual,' Hartman said. 'You could never really trust how much time is left because it seems like they're yelling with 20 seconds left in the period. I thought I'd give a check.'
Zoomed in on Hartman. Including the celly https://t.co/V1y8y6cO0F pic.twitter.com/iUsF6aq5W8
— Spoked Z (@SpokedZ) April 25, 2025
The goal was deflating for the Golden Knights, who felt they deserved a better fate after that period.
'That goal happens once a year,' Cassidy said. 'Off (Kaprizov's) stomach. You get the puck to the net and you never know what's going to happen. You're going to the room as a team and we're down 4-1 after that period, 'What the hell just happened?' That's hockey some nights. You create your own breaks. They did.'
That's how the Wild snuck their way into the postseason. They held the league's best record at points in December, but injuries sparked a second-half slide to where they had to hold onto a wild card spot for dear life. They were down to the last 22 seconds of their season, potentially, when Eriksson Ek scored a game-tying goal against the Ducks in the finale to force overtime (and earn the one point necessary to clinch). The Wild felt they were thrust into playoff-style hockey the final month of the season, with that adversity potentially helping them handle the roller-coaster of the playoffs.
Coach John Hynes brought up how they had a couple full practices after the regular season to regroup. They got their full team together, had meetings and went over game plans. The message?
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'This is our group — we're in,' Hynes said. 'This is what it's going to take to win. This is a playoff mindset as far as the way we need to compete. But there's also a style of game that makes us a hard team to play against and there's a full commitment to that.'
Hynes has pushed the right buttons during the series. He made the decision to put touted prospect Zeev Buium in for Game 1 for his NHL debut and stuck with him, and the former University of Denver star picked up his first point Thursday. Hynes elevated Hartman into a top-six role for Game 2, and the veteran forward has been arguably the team's best forward outside of Boldy and Kaprizov in the first three games. Hynes considered making changes on the fourth line and third defense pair for Game 3, but stayed with the same lineup. Marco Rossi, demoted to the fourth line, scored his first NHL playoff goal.
'I had a feeling he was going to be a factor in the series,' Hynes said.
Every coach looks smarter when they get strong goaltending, and Gustavsson has remained the team's backbone and MVP. His mental toughness showed after giving up that 'soft' goal in the first. The Swede got mad, but then shrugged it off, shutting the door with nine short-handed saves, including several in the final minutes. Gustavsson's sprawling pad stop on Stone with 90 seconds to go was soon followed by Foligno's empty-netter. Foligno, a heart-and-soul leader, raced to the boards and pounded the glass at screaming fans. They didn't need anyone to pump them up.
They were already believers.
And the Wild have given them reason to think there could be quite a few more game pucks put in that case this spring.