Golden Knights’ top players come through to eliminate Wild in Game 6: Takeaways

Sports

add

By Michael Russo, Jesse Granger and Joe Smith

ST. PAUL, Minn. – Welcome to the playoffs, Mark Stone.

After five quiet games to start the first round, the Vegas Golden Knights’ captain broke through with a great performance in Thursday night’s Game 6 to eliminate the Minnesota Wild. He scored the eventual game-winning — and series-clinching — goal, batting Brayden McNabb’s pass out of the air with 3:58 remaining to deliver Vegas a 3-2 win, and close out the first-round series.

The Golden Knights advanced to play Edmonton or Los Angeles in the second round.

Stone also set up Jack Eichel’s first goal of the series with a gorgeous pass late in the second period, which broke a 1-1 tie. Vegas’ two best players began the series slowly, getting outplayed by the Wild’s stars through the first four games, but got the last word with two brilliant games to finish the series.

Ryan Hartman scored both of the Wild’s goals, including one that came 31 seconds after Stone’s goal briefly gave the Golden Knights a 3-1 lead late in the third period.

Shea Theodore also scored for the Golden Knights. Adin Hill played his best game of the series and finished with 29 saves.

After a torrid start to this series, Kirill Kaprizov was held without a goal in the final two games and was scoreless Thursday to finish the series with nine points.

This is the Golden Knights’ fifth trip to the second round of the playoffs in eight seasons as a franchise. Thursday night’s victory was Vegas’ 61st postseason victory, which trails only Tampa Bay since Vegas entered the NHL in 2017-18.

The Wild, who made the playoffs on the last game of the regular season, failed to get out of the first round (including the 2020 bubble qualifier) for the eighth time in the last decade.

It was the fifth consecutive postseason that the Wild failed to win a series after having either a 1-0 or 2-1 series lead.

Costly long shift by Wild’s top line

The Wild played a terrific second period and got great pressure from their top line and top defensive pair late in the period.

But because of that long shift, Joel Eriksson Ek and Kaprizov didn’t have the gas to retreat after Brock Faber didn’t win a 50-50 puck on a pinch, then didn’t immediately backcheck once Vegas gained possession.

Kaprizov, at the end of a 75-second shift, tried to dive in a desperate attempt to stop Stone’s pass from reaching Eichel. The Golden Knights’ star caught up to the puck and buried his first goal of the series on a breakaway for a 2-1 lead.

Eichel is heating up for Vegas pic.twitter.com/KEDNVDdbnC

— Shayna (@shaynagoldman_) May 2, 2025

The Golden Knights’ stars were quiet over the first half of the series, but came to life in Game 4 on Tuesday and kept it rolling on Thursday night. The breakaway goal was Eichel’s first of the playoffs, and was set up by Stone’s best play of this postseason (at least until his game-winning goal that followed). The newly-formed line of Eichel, Stone and William Karlsson turned out to be a great decision by coach Bruce Cassidy. The two speedsters around Stone allowed the cerebral winger to send area passes on breakouts, such as the one that sprung Eichel for his goal.

Vegas was without Pavel Dorofeyev, who led the team with 35 goals in the regular season but was injured in Game 5. Victor Olofsson took his place in the lineup, playing for the first time since he was scratched for Tanner Pearson following Game 3. He had one shot on goal in 12:39 of ice time.

Hill saves his best for last

Early in the first period, Hill stretched his left skate out just far enough to get a piece of Marcus Foligno’s one-timer from point-blank range, robbing the Wild forward of what looked like a sure goal.

It was the start of what would be Hill’s best game of the series, and by a considerable margin. The Comox, British Columbia, native stood on his head for the Golden Knights, stopping 29 of 31 shots to close out the first-round series.

Hill had been pedestrian at best for Vegas over the first five games, especially on high-danger shots, which he stopped at only a .690 percentage prior to Thursday. In Game 6, though, Hill made several key saves from in tight.

Midway through the third period, Kaprizov found Hartman streaking to the net with speed, but Hill made a big save to preserve the Golden Knights’ 2-1 lead.

In Hill’s first two postseason runs, he was excellent, with a .932 save percentage over his first 19 games. Perhaps Thursday’s stellar outing in a close-out game is what he needed to find that form this season.

These two counted for Hartman

With fans inside Xcel Energy Center ready to cause a stir after Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell did the traditional “Let’s Play Hockey,” Marco Rossi’s double-minor penalty 2:27 into the game for high-sticking Brayden McNabb gave those same fans indigestion.

Less than a minute into the first power play, the Wild’s stagnant penalty kill didn’t front Theodore and he capitalized by whistling a shot for a goal from atop the circles.

The Wild outplayed the Golden Knights the rest of the period but were getting stymied by Adin Hill. That was until four seconds left in the period, when Hartman tied the game at 1-1 with his first goal and fifth point of the series.

One game after his go-ahead goal with 75 seconds left in the third period was overturned because Gustav Nyquist was offside, Hartman was the recipient of an exceptional individual effort by Marcus Foligno.

As he forechecked down the left-wing boards, Foligno deflected Noah Hanifin’s attempted chip-out past the defenseman, circled around the net, protected the puck, spun away from Hanifin and found Hartman just outside the right faceoff circle for a one-timer.

Ryan Hartman puts home Foligno’s great feed, tying it up for Minnesota with 4 seconds left in the first!#mnwild | #StanleyCupPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/uenbMr7QD1

— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights & News (@HockeyDaily365) May 2, 2025

Hartman’s second goal of the game pulled the Wild within 3-2 with 3:27 remaining in the third period.

Gustavsson returns after illness

When Filip Gustavsson had to leave Game 5 after two periods due to an illness, there were some questions about whether he’d be good to go for a must-win Game 6. It had to be bad for Gustavsson to pull himself out, with Marc-Andre Fleury coming in relief.

But Gustavsson did return on Thursday, and played pretty well overall. He wasn’t tested as much as other games, but came through with some big saves, including one up close on Mark Stone on a second-period power play and a few more on a third period power play to keep the game 2-1.

The three goals Gustavsson allowed were on a power-play shot from the slot by Theodore, a breakaway by Eichel — his first goal of the series — and Stone batting one in out of mid-air.

Eichel is heating up for Vegas pic.twitter.com/KEDNVDdbnC

— Shayna (@shaynagoldman_) May 2, 2025

Gustavsson finished the series with better numbers than Hill. It wouldn’t be surprising if the Wild approached him this summer about an extension, with the Swede having one more year left on his contract.

Shea Theodore strikes again

Theodore had a slow start to this series. He had a rough Game 2 in particular, when he had several turnovers that led to Minnesota goals in the loss. Since then, he’s redeemed himself and been Vegas’ best defender on most nights.

He opened the scoring on Thursday with a perfectly placed shot on the power play three minutes into the first period. Theodore has been an excellent quarterback for the Golden Knights’ top power-play unit all year, setting new career-highs in power-play assists (17) and points (19) in the regular season.

He has continued that in the playoffs, and he scored his second goal in the last three games. Stone and Tomas Hertl provided a double screen on Gustavsson, who never saw Theodore’s shot until it hit the top left corner of the Wild net. Vegas’ power play converted on five of 18 opportunities in this series (28 percent).

Theodore also made a handful of nice defensive plays in the opening frame, neutralizing what looked like dangerous rush chances with strong stick checks. He covers a ton of ice and maintains good gaps even when plays break down unexpectedly. He also has three points.

(Photo of Mark Stone: Ellen Schmidt / Getty Images)

This news was originally published on this post .

Share on

email

Previous

trending_flat

Max Pacioretty, Leafs finish off Senators in Game 6

Sports

Next

trending_flat

New Suns GM Brian Gregory, owner Mat Ishbia’s shared past is impossible to ignore

Sports