Wild overtime: Key takeaways as Golden Knights win 3-2 in Game 6

A defensive pinch. A well-timed saucer pass. And Jack Eichel skating freely up the ice.

It all added up to the decisive play that swung momentum to the Vegas Golden Knights in a 3-2 Game 6 victory that ended the Wild’s season Thursday night at Xcel Energy Center.

Eichel scored his only goal of the series, and it came at an opportune time for Vegas, which won the final three games of the series by one goal for a 4-2 series triumph and a trip to the Western Conference semifinals.

With the Wild in the Vegas zone early in the second period, the Golden Knights took advantage when Wild defenseman Brock Faber pinched in and neither he nor forward Kirill Kaprizov could get back in time to cover Eichel as the play left the zone.

Mark Stone feathered a saucer pass past a diving Kaprizov in the neutral zone to Eichel, who drove in alone and beat goalie Filip Gustavsson for a 2-1 lead at 16:12 of the period.

“It was a different type of pass, but it was like the play that Kaprizov passed to [Matt] Boldy [for a breakaway goal] in our building,” Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said of Stone’s pass. “Plays like that, you see them do it in real time, and the guy catches the puck in stride with people around. It’s just a special talent.”

The goal was Eichel’s only marker of the series, and it forced the Wild to chase the game the rest of the way.

“He’s been unreal,” Golden Knights goalie Adin Hill said of Eichel. “He and Stoney are our team’s heartbeat. When Jack’s going, he’s pretty hard to stop, and he can shut down almost any player in the league, too, defensively.”

Vegas bumped its lead to 3-1 in the third on a goal by Stone before Wild center Ryan Hartman jammed home a goal to make it 3-2 at 16:33 of the third.

“If you look at the three games, our top guys were a lot more productive and impactful than in the first three games,” Cassidy said. “That’s probably the biggest story right there.”

The Wild fell behind only 3:30 into the game after Marco Rossi took a double-minor penalty for high-sticking Vegas defenseman Brayden McNabb at 2:27 of the first. McNabb and Rossi were jostling for position after Hill made a save, and McNabb appeared to lift Rossi’s stick into his own face.

On the power play, Shea Theodore beat Gustavsson, who was screened by Vegas’ Stone and Tomas Hertl and Wild defenseman Jake Middleton. The Wild killed the second penalty.

The Wild got its first power play at 6:22 of the first when Vegas defenseman Noah Hanifin was called for cross-checking Hartman. Vegas killed the penalty, giving up no shots on goal.

Vegas got its third power play at 7:06 of the second when Faber was called for holding Eichel. Minnesota killed the penalty, allowing two shots on goal.

With 8:30 left in the third period, Vegas got its fourth power play when Kaprizov tripped Nicolas Roy. The Wild killed that one, too.

“It stings worse after this game because we all feel that we could have won the series,” Wild coach John Hynes said.

Marcus Foligno was a force for the Wild all series with his physical play. On Thursday, his hustling ways led to the Wild knotting the score 1-1 with 4 seconds left in the first period.

After skating the puck into the Vegas zone, Foligno won a battle for possession with Hanifin along the left-wing boards, motored behind the net, fended off Hanifin again, spun around and fired a pass to Hartman, who was waiting near the top of the right circle. Hartman blasted the shot past Hill, changing the complexion of the game.

Foligno drew a tripping penalty on Vegas defenseman Nicolas Hague 1:03 into the second period. The Wild got three shots on goal during the man advantage but couldn’t beat Hill. In the third period, Foligno’s work on the penalty helped snuff a Vegas power play.

“We’re a team that’s right there and can build off this,” Foligno said. “Just learn from it and understand that this is the type of Minnesota Wild hockey we have to play consistently, and heck, it was an exciting series. It was back and forth.”

Shortly after Hague’s penalty ended, Foligno and Middleton collided in the Golden Knights zone, leading to a 3-on-2 rush for Vegas. With Gustavsson out of position, defenseman Jared Spurgeon had back-to-back blocked shots 2 seconds apart on Hague and Hertl that kept the score tied.

Spurgeon finished with a team-high four blocks.

After winning only 36.1% their faceoffs (13 of 36) in Tuesday’s 4-3 overtime loss, the Wild started much better in Game 6, winning 11 of 14 first-period draws. Leading the way was Joel Eriksson Ek, who won eight of nine faceoffs in the opening 20 minutes.

Minnesota held a 24-14 mark through two periods, but Vegas finished the game with a 30-28 edge (51.7%), winning 16 of 20 in the third period. Eriksson Ek finished 13-14 in the circle while Hartman was 8-9.

For the third consecutive playoff appearance, the Wild were eliminated in six games after taking a 2-1 series lead.

In 2023, they lost Games 4-6 by a combined 11-3 to Dallas. In 2022, they lost Games 4-6 by a combined 15-5 to St. Louis. This year, they were outscored 10-7 in the final three games.

“I feel we played pretty good all series,” Kaprizov said. “They beat us in two games in overtime and today 3-2. [We] have chance to score in the end. All series, it was a good battle.”

Wild goalie Marc-Andre Fleury’s career is now over.

Hartman saluted his 40-year-old teammate after the game.

“There’s nothing much you can express what he means to our team and how good of a professional he is,” Hartman said of the three-time Stanley Cup champion. “To be able to witness all that stuff for him in his last game in Montreal. It’s hard. You want to do things for him too because it‘s his last year. He’s a Hall of Famer. It was a pleasure to play with him.”

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