Kaprizov’s 3-point game leads the Wild to a 5-2 win over the Golden Knights, tying the series
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Kirill Kaprizov cautioned it's just two games, but what a pair of performances.
He followed up a two-assist game in the series opener with two goals and another helper Tuesday night as the Minnesota Wild took advantage of turnover-prone Vegas and beat the Golden Knights 5-2, tying the first-round playoff series at a game apiece.
Game 3 is Thursday night in St. Paul, Minnesota.
“You get in a series and there's going to be pushes and surges either way,” Wild coach John Hynes said. “I think from a competitive level, we were where we needed to be. But the big part is poise under pressure and playing smart, understanding how to manage those certain things. I thought we did a fairly good job of that tonight.”
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This was the Wild's first victory over the Golden Knights this season and playoffs. Vegas won all three regular-season meetings and then took Game 1 4-2 on Sunday night.
Minnesota's last regulation victory — before Tuesday — occurred March 27 against Washington. The Golden Knights' last regulation loss was April 3 against Winnipeg.
Matt Boldy scored his third goal in two games for the Wild and added an assist. Marcus Foligno and Mats Zuccarello also scored and Filip Gustavsson stopped 29 shots. Kaprizov has two goals and three assists this series.
Noah Hanifin and Tomas Hertl scored for the Golden Knights and Adin Hill made 12 saves.
The Golden Knights came out firing, taking the first five shots on goal, but none got past Gustavsson. Minnesota then took charge, scoring three goals in the first period. Two goals came off Vegas turnovers and another on a puck battle that Ryan Hartman won.
Another Golden Knights giveaway, this one by Shea Theodore, led to Kaprizov making the score 4-0 nearly four minutes into the second period.
“We didn't take care of the puck,” Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy said. “Typically, when things don't go well for us, that's where it starts. You're giving their best players easy offense in the playoffs. It's a bad formula.”
Vegas came back with a big push and mostly dominated the rest of the way, scoring twice and outshooting the Wild 22-5. The Golden Knights will hope to build on that with the series shifting to Minnesota, and if the end of this game was any indication, it could get testy.
“They’re a good team,” Wild forward Marcus Foligno said. “We’ve got to look to Game 3, and we know we’ll be tested throughout this series.”
Several scrums broke out with 4:38 left, though the referees didn't penalize either side.
Kaprizov scored an empty-netter from nearly 200 feet with 2:26 left to end any lingering doubts.