Game 5 is Tuesday night in Las Vegas, and the Wild probably will dress Jon Merrill instead of rookie defenseman Zeev Buium.
Vegas was supposed to test the Wild with its intimidating first line, depth for days and toughness.
But the challenge has gone both ways in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
The Wild have given the Golden Knights a taste of their own medicine, their 2-2 split in the best-of-seven series ahead of Game 5 Tuesday night at T-Mobile Arena revealing just how much the two teams have in common.
“A lot of the things that are strengths for them are strengths for us, as well,” Wild winger Justin Brazeau said. “So, it’s kind of been one of those battles where you’re not getting a whole lot and whoever gets that one extra opportunity might win the game.”
Never was that truer than in Game 4 when Vegas completed its third-period rally 4-3 in overtime Saturday at Xcel Energy Center to send the series back to Square One.
After a league-best 31-0 run, the Wild finally lost when leading through two periods. They also dropped to 0-5 all-time with the chance to go up 3-1, with the Golden Knights capitalizing on defenseman Jake Middleton’s botched clear near the Wild net.
“It’s a tough play,” coach John Hynes said. “Nothing you can do about it. It’s not like he meant to do it or anything like that. It’s not something that I think you dwell on.”
Regardless of how close the Wild came to securing that third victory or that Vegas was the favorite going into the series as the second-best team in the Western Conference with home-ice advantage, this matchup being evenly contested isn’t a surprise.
Injuries prevented the Wild from showing it as much in the regular season, but their style is like Vegas’ and to this point, they’ve executed some of those hallmarks better.
Take the top line.
Kirill Kaprizov, Joel Eriksson Ek and Matt Boldy have combined for eight goals and 15 points to outplay their counterparts in Ivan Barbashev, Jack Eichel and Mark Stone.
Those three did chip in during the Golden Knights’ Game 4 comeback, with each picking up his first point of the playoffs and Barbashev finishing with two after he netted the game-winning shot. But together they’ve mostly been a non-factor and remained on separate lines at Vegas’ Monday practice after getting split up in Game 4.
(Eriksson Ek didn’t practice alongside Kaprizov and Boldy during the Wild’s session, sitting out for maintenance.)
“When you’re called upon to defend, you have to defend,” veteran Mats Zuccarello said. “When you’re called upon to try and score, our top guys have done that. I think that’s why it’s a tight series.”
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