Wild overtime: Key moments in Golden Knights’ Game 5 victory

A familiar saying in coaching circles is that a team’s best players need to be its best players come playoff time. For the Vegas Golden Knights, that wasn’t the case during the first three games of their Western Conference quarterfinal series against the Wild.

The Golden Knights’ top line of Jack Eichel centering Ivan Barbashev and Mark Stone combined for no points and only 14 shots on goal in the first three games as the Wild took a 2-1 series lead. This from a trio that had 70 goals and 142 assists in the regular season.

Since then, the Vegas big knockers have been knocking loudly — but separately. Coach Bruce Cassidy started the line together for Game 4, but he quickly separated the three in the Golden Knights’ overtime win and continued that strategy in Game 5 on Tuesday.

It worked out well for Cassidy and the Golden Knights, who won 4-3 on Brett Howden’s goal 4:05 into overtime and took a 3-2 lead in a series that resumes Thursday night in Game 6 in St. Paul. Eichel assisted on William Karlsson’s short-handed goal and Stone’s even-strength marker in the first period as Vegas took a 2-1 lead.

Over the past two games, Eichel has three assists, Stone and Barbashev each have a goal and an assist, and Vegas is 2-0.

Tuesday, Eichel skated with Karlsson and Pavel Dorofeyev on his wings. Stone moved to right wing on the second line with Tomas Hertl and Brandon Saad. And Barbashev was the left wing on the third line with Nicolas Roy and Reilly Smith.

The Wild made two lineup changes from Game 4 to Game 5.

Marcus Johansson, who missed Game 4 because of a lower-body injury, was back in the lineup on the left wing with center Ryan Hartman and right winger Mats Zuccarello on the second line. Jon Merrill saw his first action on the third defensive pair with Zach Bogosian, replacing rookie Zeev Buium.

On Saturday, Buium took a four-minute high-sticking penalty that led to the goal that tied the score 2-2 in the third period. Buium played 13:33 over four shifts but did not play in overtime.

Merrill was late to cover Howden on the winning goal in overtime.

Hartman gave the Wild a 3-2 lead with 1:15 left in regulation, and replays showed it was a good goal.

But … Vegas challenged the play for offsides, and sure enough, Gustav Nyquist got in a bit ahead of Hartman on the 2-on-1 rush.

“Obviously, it was just a couple inches away from winning this thing 30 minutes ago,” Wild defenseman Brock Faber said in a FanDuel Sports Network postgame interview. “It is what it is. It’s the reality now, and it’s on to the next one. The only thing in the world that matters right now is winning the next one.”

Here’s a look at the ruling.

With Buium scratched, the Wild started off with five forwards on their first power-play unit: Kirill Kaprizov, Joel Eriksson Ek, Matt Boldy, Zuccarello and Hartman. The group got off to a tough start when Kaprizov’s errant pass led to a Vegas 2-on-1 with Karlsson finishing Eichel’s pass for a 1-0 lead on a shorthanded goal at 8:25 of the first.

The Wild, however, needed only 13 seconds to tie the score 1-1 when Kaprizov one-timed a cross-ice pass from Zuccarello to beat goalie Adin Hill.

The Wild got its second power play 7 seconds into the second period when Golden Knights defenseman Brayden McNabb tripped Boldy. Minnesota got two shots on Hill, but Vegas killed the penalty. The Wild had a power play that started late in the second period and finished in the third, but Vegas killed that one, too. Minnesota finished 1-for-3 on the power play and killed all three penalties it faced.

Wild goalie Filip Gustavsson left the game after two periods because of illness, and veteran Marc-Andre Fleury took over. The appearance marked an NHL-record 18th playoff season in which Fleury has appeared.

Fleury, who’s retiring after the playoffs, made three saves in the third period and three in overtime after Gustavsson stopped 23 shots.

“It was just something came up during the game,’’ Wild coach John Hynes said of Gustavsson’s illness. “I thought Gus played well. I thought Flower played well.”

Said Fleury to reporters in Las Vegas: “By no means is this over.”

Stone gave the Golden Knights a 2-1 lead at 13:24 of the first period with a slapshot from the point that beat Gustavsson. Hynes challenged for goaltender interference because Karlsson made contact with Gustavsson, but officials ruled it a good goal. The unsuccessful challenge meant that Vegas got a two-minute power play.

The Wild killed the delay-of-game penalty, and Zuccarello got the puck exiting the penalty box but couldn’t beat Hill on a breakaway.

The Wild has made a concerted effort to take the physical play to Vegas, and leading the way has been left winger Marcus Foligno, whose 35 hits entering Tuesday led all playoff performers. Foligno also had three goals through four games, showing he’s not just padding his hit stats but doing so with a purpose of impacting the game.

“He’s been engaged,” Hynes said Monday. “He’s not chasing it, he’s not over-emotional.”

Fourth-liners Yakov Trenin and Justin Brazeau rank second and third on the Wild with 20 and 17 hits, respectively, and their energy has helped center Marco Rossi contribute two goals and an assist.

Both the Wild and Golden Knights had dished out 135 hits through four games. For Vegas, Barbashev had the team lead with 20 hits.

On Tuesday, the Wild outhit Vegas 18-9 in the first period and 35-26 for the game. Trenin led Minnesota with seven hits while Foligno had three.

Vegas entered the playoffs with a big advantage over the Wild in the faceoff circle, finishing 15th in the NHL in the regular season at 50.4%, while the Wild was 29th at 46.7%. Through four games, however, the Wild was holding its own on draws. The Golden Knights ranked fifth among the 16 playoff teams at 50.8%, while Minnesota had improved to 49.2%, good for 12th among playoff teams.

The Wild’s best players in the circle through four games have been Eriksson Ek, who was 60-45 (57.1%), and Hartman, who was 28-30 (48.3%). The Golden Knights’ faceoff leader was Roy at 62.2% (23-14).

Tuesday, the Wild went 24-35 in the circle for 41%. Minnesota lost all six of its overtime faceoffs, including Howden beating Rossi on the draw that led to the winning goal. Rossi led the Wild by going 6-6 on draws. Eriksson Ek was 9-12.