Souhan: Minnesota Wild lose an admirable one to Vegas, and it might become a costly one

The question of the day in The State of Hockey:

Can the Wild continue to go toe-to-toe with a team they can’t stay with shot-for-shot?

The Wild blew it Saturday — blew their chance to take control of their playoff series against Vegas.

They held a 2-1 lead in the second period. They were 29-0 in the regular season when leading after two periods. They had chances to win in overtime.

One iffy pass from Jake Middleton that jumped over Brock Faber’s stick led to a shot and a scrum and one of those “Who scored that and was it really a goal?” moments that decide so many games.

The final: Vegas 4, Wild 3, tying the series at two games apiece.

Will the Game 4 overtime be the series’ decisive moment?

That wouldn’t be surprising because, if you care about one of the core team statistics in hockey, you would have to believe that the Wild were lucky to have won two games.

The only statistics always visible on the Wild scoreboard are goals scored, time remaining, and … shots on goal. The Wild are getting destroyed in that category.

The Golden Knights have outshot the Wild 137-100.

Credit the Wild for being so efficient and opportunistic, and to their skill players for making so many of their prime chances pay off.

But is getting outshot by that margin sustainable if you intend to win a best-of-seven series?

Take the Golden Knights’ winning goal Saturday.

They jumped on a missed Wild connection, threw the puck toward the front of the net, and won the scrum, with Ivan Barbashev getting credit for the game-winning nudge.

“Throw the puck to the net, you get rewarded,” Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said.

The clutch play of the Wild’s most skilled players gave them a chance to take a 3-1 lead in this series. Vegas’ relentlessness allowed the Golden Knights to tie it.

The Wild’s best skill players have outperformed Vegas star Jack Eichel, who has only one point. Wild forward Ryan Hartman has at least one point in each game.

Can that continue, or have the Wild already missed their chance?

Vegas goalie Adin Hill looked shaky in Games 2 and 3. He did enough to win Game 4. Did the Wild allow him to regain his composure?

The feeling you get watching the past three games is that Vegas is the better team but hasn’t taken advantage of that advantage. With the reprieve of an overtime victory, and Games 5 and possibly Game 7 scheduled to be played on the Vegas Strip, will Vegas take control?

“We’re in a good spot,” Wild coach John Hynes said. ”I love where we’re at. I really like our game. We’ve just got to keep grinding."

He should. The Wild have been admirable all series. They have taken Eichel off his game (if he hasn’t done that to himself). They’ve made Hill look skittish. They’ve proved that Kirill Kaprizov’s magic can work in the postseason, and that Matt Boldy can play like a star when the games mean the most.

Hartman and Marcus Foligno have been routinely brilliant. Wild goalie Filip Gustavsson has, like Kaprizov, warmed to the bright lights.

At times earlier this year a pessimist could have wondered whether the Wild should bother making the playoffs. Would Kaprizov and Joel Eriksson Ek be able to contribute after long layoffs? Could the Wild rally when hockey ramps up its intensity?

The answers: Yes, and yes.

But there is a difference between playing admirably and winning, and that difference was on display Saturday.

The Wild lost the game of centimeters.

That’s not unusual.

The Wild were trying, for the fifth time in history, to take a 3-1 series lead. They have lost all five games.

If you are a Minnesota men’s professional sports franchise, you must be aligned with some sort of suspected curse.

The guess here is that the Wild’s owners sold their souls for that 2003 playoff run, and fans will be paying the price in perpetuity.