{"id":1198485,"date":"2021-04-03T23:53:18","date_gmt":"2021-04-04T03:53:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/?p=1198485"},"modified":"2021-04-04T09:24:41","modified_gmt":"2021-04-04T13:24:41","slug":"wild-sweep-the-golden-knights-with-a-2-1-victory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/wild-sweep-the-golden-knights-with-a-2-1-victory\/","title":{"rendered":"Wild Sweep the Golden Knights with a 2-1 Victory"},"content":{"rendered":"
It was somewhat expected that after playing with a reduced lineup due to some late injuries and losing to the Wild 3-2 in a shootout that Minnesota would face a very motivated Vegas Golden Knights squad.\u00a0 That was evident right from the puck drop as the pace of play was extremely fast as the Golden Knights were trying to use their tremendous team speed to try to put Minnesota on its heels.\u00a0 At certain points, you could definitely say the Golden Knights had Minnesota scrambling about its own zone.\u00a0 Cam Talbot<\/strong> certainly had to keep his head on a swivel as shots were being taken from all over the offensive zone.<\/p>\n Vegas would break the stalemate off the rush when Tomas Nosek<\/strong> sort of redirected a shot on goal that fluttered by Talbot to give the Golden Knights a 1-0 lead.\u00a0 This would finally get the Wild moving its feet and going on the attack themselves.\u00a0 The line of Victor Rask<\/strong>, Nick Bonino<\/strong> and Kevin Fiala<\/strong> caused some havoc by swarming down near the Vegas goal but Marc-Andre Fleury<\/strong> was up to the task to stop Rask’s rebound chance from near the top of the crease.\u00a0 Physical play was also evident as the Golden Knights were finishing checks with regularity and trying to agitate the Wild’s star players like Fiala and Kirill Kaprizov<\/strong> whenever the opportunity presented itself.\u00a0 The Wild and Golden Knights continued to share chances throughout the period but Minnesota would go into the 1st intermission trailing 1-0.<\/p>\n The game continued to be fast paced with plenty of chirping after the whistle as Fiala seemed to be in a personal war with Vegas’ Jonathan Marchessault<\/strong>.\u00a0 Marchessault repeatedly kept barking at Fiala after shifts as though trying to goad Fiala as it was clear it was part of the Golden Knights to try to get into the head of the Wild’s star talent.\u00a0 The Golden Knights continued to push the pace offensively causing Minnesota’s defense to scramble but they had some close calls as Marchessault ripped a shot that was deflected up and over the net by Talbot.\u00a0 Minnesota had some promising opportunities of their own, the best coming off the stick of Marcus Johansson<\/strong> who tried to jam one home but Fleury would cover it up for a whistle.\u00a0 Yet as the period ended, Fiala continued to chirp at Marchessault, Alex Pietrangelo<\/strong> and any other Vegas Golden Knight that was nearby.<\/p>\n Minnesota would try to put those distractions behind them and they’d go to work on trying to tie the game.\u00a0 A power play would finally give them an opportunity to light the lamp and with a little persistence the Wild moved their way in close and it was Kaprizov tapped home a pretty diagonal pass by Joel Eriksson Ek<\/strong> to tie the game.\u00a0 With Vegas still a bit stunned from Kaprizov’s goal, the Wild would take the lead as Eriksson Ek would bang home his own rebound after receiving a pass from Jordan Greenway<\/strong> to give Minnesota a 2-1 lead to a stunned 3,900+ at T-Mobile Arena.\u00a0 The next few minutes, the Wild locked things down, forcing the Golden Knights to settle for shots from the perimeter while giving Vegas very little in terms of time and space.\u00a0 You could see how frustrated the Golden Knights were in the closing minutes as Mark Stone<\/strong> was chirping after the play, annoyed at the team that just wouldn’t go away.\u00a0 The Wild continued to block shots and disrupt passes and not giving up almost any free ice to Vegas.\u00a0 Talbot was again brilliant down the stretch, staying calm with Golden Knights forwards crashing the crease with regularity but he was able to come up with the stops to give Minnesota a 2-1 victory.\u00a0 He had 27 saves in the win.<\/p>\n What did you think of the Minnesota Wild’s series against the Golden Knights?\u00a0 Tell us on Twitter<\/em> at @CreaseAndAssist<\/a>!<\/p>\n