The Minnesota Wild only had 14 shots on goal Monday night, but they sure made the most out of them, beating the Vegas Golden Knights, 4-2, at T-Mobile Arena in Game 5 and forcing a Game 6 back in Minnesota Wednesday night.
Vegas leads the series 3-2 and can close things out on the road or the Wild can force a Game 7 later in the week in what would be a first for the Golden Knights– hosting a Game 7 in Vegas.
Minnesota goaltender, Cam Talbot (2-3, 2.42 goals-against average, .928 save percentage in five games played), made 38 saves on 40 shots faced for the win.
Marc-Andre Fleury (3-2, 1.40 goals-against average, .946 save percentage in five games) had 10 saves on 13 shots against in the loss for Vegas.
Once again, the Golden Knights were without Max Pacioretty in the lineup, while Minnesota made one change– replacing Carson Soucy with Calen Addison, who made his Stanley Cup Playoffs debut in the process.
Midway through the opening frame, Nick Holden sent the puck up through the neutral zone where Alex Tuch botched completing a pass, but instead tipped the rubber biscuit towards Mark Stone for Stone to retrieve and take into the attacking zone himself.
Stone (4) slipped through the defense and sent a shot under Talbot’s glove to give the Golden Knights the first goal of the game and an early, 1-0, lead at 8:14 of the first period.
Tuch (1) and Holden (3) had the assists on the effort.
Less than a minute later, however, the Wild responded.
Kirill Kaprizov forced a turnover in his own end, sent the puck to Mats Zuccarello, who then carried the rubber biscuit through the neutral zone, cut left and passed the puck back to Kaprizov in the slot.
From there, Kaprizov (1) wired a shot past Fleury’s glove side to tie the game, 1-1, and score his first career Stanley Cup Playoff goal in the process.
Zuccarello (1) had the only assist on Kaprizov’s goal at 9:06 of the first period.
Almost three minutes later, Zach Parise (1) banked a wild carom from the endboards off of Fleury and into the twine to put Minnesota on top, 2-1.
Jonas Brodin (3) and Matt Dumba (2) tallied the assists on Parise’s goal as the Wild took the lead at 11:57 and later completed a span of three unanswered goals in the first period after giving up the game’s first goal.
Jordan Greenway (1) carried the puck into the attacking zone, through Vegas’ defense and followed up on his own rebound to make it, 3-1, Minnesota at 16:34.
Addison (1) had the only assist on Greenway’s goal in the process.
After one period in Vegas, the Wild led, 3-1, on the scoreboard despite both teams having mustered seven shots apiece.
The Golden Knights led in blocked shots (8-6), hits (22-20) and faceoff win percentage (57-43), while Minnesota led in takeaways (5-4) and both teams had three giveaways each.
Neither club had seen any action on the power play heading into the first intermission.
Dumba sent the puck over the glass and out of play for an automatic delay of game infraction at 7:52 of the second period and presented the Golden Knights with the first power play of the night.
Late in the ensuing skater advantage, Vegas defender Alex Pietrangelo setup Alec Martinez (1) for a goal from the faceoff dot over Talbot’s glove side.
Pietrangelo (2) and Chandler Stephenson (4) had the assists on Martinez’s power-play goal as the Golden Knights pulled to within one, 3-2, at 9:43.
Late in the period, Brodin hooked Reilly Smith and cut a rut to the sin bin at 16:33 as a result, but Vegas failed to convert on the resulting power play.
Through 40 minutes of action, the Wild led, 3-2, on the scoreboard, but the Golden Knights dominated in shots on goal, 29-8, including an astounding, 22-1, advantage in the second period alone.
Minnesota led in blocked shots (16-9) and takeaways (8-7), while Vegas held the advantage in giveaways (6-4), hits (34-31) and faceoff win percentage (51-49) entering the second intermission.
The Wild had yet to see a power play through two periods and the Golden Knights were 1/2 on the skater advantage heading into the final frame.
There were no penalties called in third period as the Golden Knights continued to dominate possession and generate shot after shot.
As the game clock counted down, Vegas head coach, Peter DeBoer, pulled Fleury for an extra attacker with about 1:46 remaining in the action.
Shortly thereafter, Nico Sturm (1) used the power of mathematics to angle the puck off the boards, deep into the attacking zone and into the empty net to provide an unassisted insurance marker, 4-2, at 19:21 of the third period.
At the final horn, Minnesota had won, 4-2, on the scoreboard, despite trailing, 40-14, in shots on goal, including an, 11-6, advantage for Vegas in the third period alone.
The Wild exited the building leading in blocked shots (23-13) and faceoff win% (52-48), while the Golden Knights led in giveways (11-6) and hits (48-44).
Only the Golden Knights had ever seen any action on the power play on Monday– going 1/2 in the process– while the Wild hadn’t seen any action on the skater advantage in Game 5.
Vegas leads the series 3-2 heading into Game 6 Wednesday night at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota.
The Golden Knights can eliminate the Wild on the road with a win and viewers looking for national coverage in the United States can tune to NBCSN, while fans in Canada can catch the game on SN or TVAS.
Puck drop is expected to be a little after 9 p.m. ET.
Down the Frozen River 
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