The Minnesota Wild took on the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 2 of their Round 1 series in Vegas on Tuesday, April 22. After a hard-fought loss in Game 1, the Wild looked to improve on their strong effort. They had the same lineup as Game 1, except Ryan Hartman was moved up to the third line, Marco Rossi switched to the fourth, and Filip Gustavsson was back in the net.
The Wild had a rough first few minutes, but then flipped a switch and controlled the rest of the first period, where they scored three straight goals. In the second, they made it 4-0, and although the Golden Knights responded with a goal, the Wild held strong into the third. The Golden Knights added another, but the Wild held strong and added an empty-netter in the final minutes to take a 5-2 win. We’ll look at how they did it in this article, starting with the top line once again leading the way.
Wild’s Top Line Leads
The Wild’s top line of Kirill Kaprizov, Matt Boldy, and Joel Eriksson Ek got things started with a highlight-reel saucer pass from Kaprizov to Boldy, who put it past Adin Hill. That gave the Wild the motivation they needed to keep pushing and added four more goals before the final buzzer to get the win.
Of the five goals scored, the top line had three of the five. Boldy got the first, and the other two were courtesy of their star, Kaprizov. He had the fourth goal and then the fifth and final that stopped a tough push from the Golden Knights. Without that goal, it could’ve been a different game if the Golden Knights had knocked in one more.
The top line was strong all night for the Wild, and they led by example that the rest of the team followed. The Wild need to focus on this effort and continue to improve their game as they did from Game 1 to Game 2. Now they head home and will be in front of their home crowd where their top line can shine again.
Wild’s Gustavsson Strong
As expected, Gustavsson continued to play strongly in Game 2 and made some big saves to give his team a chance to take a commanding lead out of the first period. He’s one of the backbones of the team, and in the postseason, he has continued to be. Not only has he been strong defensively, but he also showed a slightly more aggressive side. He came out of the crease on several occasions, but once he jumped right into the play and shot the puck away.
The Golden Knights put on the pressure in the second period, and Gustavsson was ready for almost every shot that came at him. He faced 11 shots in that middle frame and kept his team in the lead. While he made a great effort, he wasn’t alone on the defensive side of things, as his whole team stepped up to block shots, which made a big difference in the overall game.
In Game 3, the Wild have to have this same effort but better consistency, and hopefully, Gustavsson will be able to provide the same reliability as he always has. These efforts in Games 1 and 2 will be a significant confidence boost as they come home for Game 3.
Wild Continue Playing Their Game
The Wild had a few challenging moments at the very beginning, but once they found their feet, they were all over the Golden Knights. They pushed and pushed back against the Golden Knights the same way they did in Game 1, but this time they were able to get past Hill.
They took advantage of finding a way to score and ensured they had a strong enough lead not to worry when they slacked back a bit. They got lucky; they had that big of a lead, but they know they have to have a more substantial effort when it comes to playing consistently. They can’t let off the gas like they did, even if they’re tired.
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They have to have shorter shifts and make sure they are keeping fresh feet on the ice when they start to get tired, so they don’t allow the Golden Knights to sneak their way back in. That was the only major thing the Wild needed to fix, but as long as they keep to their game, they’ve proven they can win.
Wild Prove Themselves
As one of the best road teams in the NHL for quite a bit of the season, the Wild backed up that play with this solid win over the Golden Knights. They now know they can win against this team, and now they’ll head home to hopefully feed off a very enthusiastic crowd wanting to see some postseason wins.
