The Minnesota Wild faced the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 1 of Round 1 on Sunday evening, April 20 in Vegas. The Wild had their full roster healthy, and they had an addition on the blueline in Zeev Buium, who made his long-awaited NHL debut. Filip Gustavsson was in the net, and the Wild came out of the gates with a jump in their game.
The Wild had a faster step to their game than they had in the last week or so of the season, and they pushed back against the Golden Knights’ efforts all night. The Wild got behind first but battled back and continued to do so all night long. There were some mistakes they weren’t quite able to overcome, but it was a strong effort despite the 4-2 loss. We’ll look at what went right for the Wild and the few mistakes they need to fix before Game 2, starting with their overall team effort.
Wild Have Team Effort
Right from the start, the Wild had an all-around effort from everyone in the lineup. Although there were mistakes made, every member on the team was all in. The Wild knew they’d need to find another level to compete with the Golden Knights, and they did just that. Again, the Wild did lose, but they fought tooth and nail to stay within a goal until the final seconds.
Every line had at least a shot on goal, if not multiple, and even the fourth line got in on the action with Yakov Trenin forcing turnovers. The Wild have to focus on the effort they put in and work on building on it. Yes, they need to fix the mistakes, but they also need to pay attention to the good, or they can become overwhelmed and try to overcompensate, which will cause more errors.
It’s going to take a complete team effort to get through this series, and this was a great start despite the loss. Hopefully, they can harness this effort and step it up another notch for Game 2 and come out with a win.
Wild Find Ways to Respond
The Wild may have gotten down early, but they found ways to respond, mainly with the first line of Matt Boldy, Kirill Kaprizov, and Joel Eriksson Ek. They didn’t let the Golden Knights’ goals throw them off their game, and they forced their way back into the game, not once but twice. Both goals came from Boldy, with the first assist going to Kaprizov each time.
The goals weren’t the only way they responded, either; they fought back physically as well, outhitting the Golden Knights 54-29. This was part of…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at The Hockey Writers…