Minnesota Wild-Vegas Golden Knights: Takeaways from NHL playoffs Game 1

The Vegas Golden Knights connected on 28.3% of their power-play chances during the regular season, which was second only to Winnipeg’s 28.9% in the NHL. Conversely, the Wild’s penalty kill ranked third-from-last in the league at 72.4%.

So, staying out of the penalty box would be key to Minnesota’s chances of winning Sunday night’s opener of the Western Conference quarterfinal series in Las Vegas.

It took the Golden Knights only six seconds of power-play time to exploit the statistical mismatch in a 4-2 victory at T-Mobile Arena.

With Wild center and key faceoff man Joel Eriksson Ek off for high-sticking, Tomas Hertl won a faceoff against Frederick Gaudreau and sent the puck back to Shea Theodore. The defenseman slid to his right, faked a shot and passed to wide-open Pavel Dorofeyev at the right circle, and the Russian winger fired the puck past Wild goalie Filip Gustavsson for a 2-1 lead at 13:33 of the second.

“I thought it was a hard game by both teams,” Wild coach John Hynes told reporters in Las Vegas. “Both teams came to play hard and gave pretty good, strong defensive efforts, and there was not a lot of special teams in the game.”

When asked if he felt that Vegas got away with interference on the faceoff that led to Dorofeyev’s goal, Hynes said yes.

The Wild got their only power play at 5:06 of the third period when Vegas defenseman Brayden McNabb was called for boarding Minnesota center Ryan Hartman. Vegas killed the penalty. The Golden Knights scored their final goal into an empty net on a power play with 0.1 left on the clock.

Said Boldy, who scored both Wild goals. “You gotta win four games — doesn’t matter how. So, stay positive. Keep going."

Defenseman Zeev Buium became the first Wild player to make his NHL debut in the playoffs, and he logged 13 minutes, 27 seconds of ice time in 19 shifts.

The No. 12 overall pick in the 2024 NHL draft, Buium at 19 years and 134 days old is the 12th-youngest player in NHL history to make his debut in the playoffs.

“He did some good things in the game,” Hynes said of Buium. “It was good to see him be able to make some plays and feel comfortable. That’s why we put him in.”

Buium had what could be the unofficial third assist on Boldy’s tying goal in the first period, sending an outlet pass to Hartman, who found Kirill Kaprizov in the Vegas zone. Kaprizov threw a cross-ice pass to Boldy, whose shot against the grain beat goalie Adin Hill.

“It was amazing,” Buium told Fan Duel Sports Network, regarding his debut. “Obviously, losing never feels good, but it was something I’ve dreamt of all my life, so it was pretty special.”

Buium played 3:29 on seven first-period shifts, 5:34 on seven second-period shifts and 4:24 on five third-period shifts.

“He played great,” Boldy said. “He’s so skilled, such a good skater, and he wants the puck.”

Added Buium: “As the game went on, I felt a lot better, and the nerves settled down. It was just playing hockey at that point.”

Buium had the puck on his stick with a scoring chance in the second period but waited too long to shoot and the puck was stripped away. He quarterbacked the power play in the third period, getting one shot on goal. Buium also was part of the Wild’s 6-on-5 group with the goalie pulled in the final minute.

“I appreciated the opportunity for that,” Buium said of the late-game usage. “I want to help the team to win.”

Vegas tried to set the tone early with Brayden McNabb blasting Boldy with a hard hit during the game’s first minute. Three minutes later, Zach Whitecloud dumped Buium into the Vegas bench with a hit. Ivan Barbashev then nailed Hartman with an open-ice hit that might have been called interference in the regular season. Hartman skated off slowly to the bench, holding his right shoulder, but returned.

Minnesota responded well, posting 15 hits to the Golden Knights’ six at the 13-minute mark of the first. For the period, the Wild outhit Vegas 24-16. The advantage was 42-25 through two periods and 54-29 for the game. Leading the Wild were Marcus Foligno with a game-high 11 hits, Yakov Trenin with eight and Boldy with six go along with his two goals.

“Five-on-five it was an even hockey game,” Hartman said. “Very physical. At the end of the day, they scored on a power play, and we did not. … It’s how playoff hockey’s supposed to be played. I enjoy playoff hockey a lot more than the regular season."

The Wild won 19 of 31 faceoffs in the first period, led by Eriksson Ek’s 9-4 showing. In the second, Minnesota went 10-5 in the dot, with Eriksson Ek winning seven of nine draws. And in the third, the Wild went 10-9 in the third to finish 39-26 (60%). Eriksson Ek was 5-4 in the third to finish 21-10 for the game (67.7%).