Article: Wild Fall in Game 1 Against Golden Knights

[Thomas Williams]

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[MNCountryLife]

I thought the Wild played pretty well.  Vegas is a good team.  Faber got picked the first goal and Hertl made a fantastic shot.  2nd goal was a PK and the 3rd goal was on Bogo.  Looked like he tried to cheat to help out Zeev and he got bit for it.

[Imyourhuckleberry]

The PP goal against was a pretty wide open net, but the kill shot(game winner) was the breakaway goal by Howden. First team to 3 goals is likely to win each game in this series and Howden hit the top blocker side corner with speed.

Gus seemed to play pretty well. Both blocker side goals were well placed in the upper corner from fairly close in and he was screened on the fake shot/pass that resulted in the open shot. Since he didn't see the puck leave the stick, he didn't have the reaction to leave the path of that initial faked shot, and was beaten before he could really react to where the shot came from. He's often good at tracking the puck, but that one was tough.

Wild played with solid effort, but were beaten by a more talented team. Hartman was close to putting the Wild up early--around 5.5 minutes in. Defenseman seemed to knock the puck away to stop Hartman from burying the bouncing puck rebound. If the Wild get an early lead, the rest of the night might go a bit differently.

Also looked like the Knights might have deserved an interference call(nothing called) when they checked Hartman away from the play in open ice not long after his scoring opportunity was snuffed out.

Boldy, Kaprizov, and Hartman all had pretty strong nights. Eriksson Ek was doing alright until the high sticking call that gave the Knights the 2-1 lead.

 

[MNCountryLife]

Zeev made his mistakes and we got lucky they didn't cost us more... I wouldn't say he cost us anymore than what Merrill typically does.  But overall for a first NHL game ever I thought he played pretty well.  Boldy looked like he did in the 4 nations giving everything he had....He has that extra playoff gear.  Probably my favorite player on the team, Ek, did not step up.  Pains me to say that.  I'm a big Ek fan.  He seemed more focused on arguing and scrums than what was happening with the puck.  We need him focused on the puck.

[OldDutchChip]

I had decided to get my beauty sleep and called it a night after 2nd, but from what I did see -

MVP: Boldy, Trenin, Gus, Harty

I thought Boldy played great. And Trenin did what he could. The rest need to step up. 

LVP: Faber, Rossi, Spurge, Nyquist, Brazzy 

Side note- I’m hoping Yurov is our Dorofeev (that guy is good) Maybe they’ll take Rossi for him in the offseason? Haha

[M_Nels]

37 minutes ago, MNCountryLife said:

Probably my favorite player on the team, Ek, did not step up.

Had a hell of a night in the dot though.

[SkolWild73]

Good game for us with a couple of mistakes/bad breaks that cost us.  First one being Faber  knocking the puck down then losing it.  Bad play, but great shot.

Second was the pp goal.  Not sure how a penalty is not called on Vegas for tripping Freddy right off the face off.  
 

Posive notes.  We won 60% of faceoffs and every player was above 50%. If the hit stays were correct, we out hit them 54-29.  And Zeev got some experience.  Had some good and some bad.  
 

On to game two.

Edited 4 hours ago by SkolWild73

[Pewterschmidt]

Can't imagine how stressful it would be for 19 yr old Zeev to play first NHL in a playoff series.  He showed some nerves and made some mistakes, but I'm encouraged by his skating.  He carried puck around his net and burst out of the D-zone with speed I haven't seen from our other D.  He also appears to be a shoot first mentality putting the puck on net vs. endless keep away some of our other players choose.  Going to be fun watching this kid evolve.

Edited 4 hours ago by Pewterschmidt

[Will D. Ness]

I think rolling with Zeev was a gamble, but I guess we are in Vegas.  It could have paid off, but didn't.  He handled it well, but has a lot to learn on both ends.

I guess being thrown into that crucible can either crush you or teach you 2X as fast.  I'm thinking with Zeev it is the latter.

[M_Nels]

23 minutes ago, Pewterschmidt said:

He also appears to be a shoot first mentality putting the puck on net vs. endless keep away some of our other players choose.

Except on the 6-on-5, tried to force that pass a bit when he could've thrown it on net. I couldn't imagine being 19 and quarterbacking the blue line out there in your first game with Kaprizov, Boldy, Zuccarello, Ek all out there too. Gotta be intimidating but I agree P-hammer, I'm encouraged by what he showed and should continue getting better.

I'm not out for Hynes' head like some are. Lotta armchair coaching and hindsight anger. If Zeev gets an assist on the PP or in that 6-v-5 then Hynes is credited as a hero. If he's in on Tuesday I expect we'll see a better game out of him.

 

[Patrick]

The game was close.  Not sure how Hertl didn't get called for a trip on the power play goal.  One of the most obvious trips you will ever see in an NHL came.  He literally flipped him on his back.  And it directly led to the goal. 

Aside from that the refs were fine.  They let both teams play. I think we take game 2.

[Enforceror]

We were in it most of the game. We can beat Vegas. 4 out of 7? Maybe maybe not, but we can at least win some games. I didn't think we were out matched.

[IllicitFive]

21 minutes ago, Enforceror said:

We were in it most of the game. We can beat Vegas. 4 out of 7? Maybe maybe not, but we can at least win some games. I didn't think we were out matched.

I did not think they looked outmatched at all either. Those trees Vegas has makes getting to the middle very difficult but I did not see the Wild back down from them either. The wild had a few chances they just didn't capitalize on/Hill making great saves on in close chances. Pot one of those, and avoid the ugly turnover leading to a goal, Wild walk out with a win. 

[M_Nels]

2 minutes ago, IllicitFive said:

I did not think they looked outmatched at all either. Those trees Vegas has makes getting to the middle very difficult but I did not see the Wild back down from them either. The wild had a few chances they just didn't capitalize on/Hill making great saves on in close chances. Pot one of those, and avoid the ugly turnover leading to a goal, Wild walk out with a win. 

Jojo was a stitch away from scoring on his shot coming off the wing, Hill was fooled by that one. That popfly was dangerously close to bouncing to Kap for almost a tap in and I think Hartman(?) had one bounce over his blade in the crease. Hertl happened to place the PERFECT shot on the first goal.

Wild were right with them for most of the game, a couple lapses but Whitecloud for VGK had a few of his own flubs but the Wild couldn't capitalize. Biggest thing for me going into game 2 is will the Wild be able to match that intensity/energy/effort for 3+ more games?

[hydguy75]

2 hours ago, OldDutchChip said:

MVP: Boldy, Trenin, Gus, Harty

I thought Boldy played great. And Trenin did what he could. The rest need to step up. 

Alright, who hacked into ODC's account and gave Trenin props? 

[hydguy75]

55 minutes ago, Patrick said:

The game was close.  Not sure how Hertl didn't get called for a trip on the power play goal.  One of the most obvious trips you will ever see in an NHL came.  He literally flipped him on his back.  And it directly led to the goal. 

Aside from that the refs were fine.  They let both teams play. I think we take game 2.

I didn't even pretend to watch the game- but did Hartsy get cross-checked in the face the led to the VGK 3rd lamplighter?

[IllicitFive]

I was impressed overall with the play of the Wild, they played with pace, were physical but overall played their game for most of it, controlled, gap strong defense, kept them to the outside a lot and didn't give up many rebound chances.

Zeev looked good, lots of things to like but I can't imagine how hard stepping into a playoff game, on the road none the less for your first game. My only critique would be at the times the game looked too fast for him, which is to be expected. There is not only a jump from college to NHL, but regular season NHL to playoffs, small sample size but excited to see what he can bring.

The refs.... good lord, watching people get bodied middle of the ice away from the play, Hartman taking a cross check to the face, an obvious trip on the PP all no calls, when the announcers called out some of it against Vegas you know its bad, unless they are also not Bettman fans.

Boldy, awesome, more of that, all the time. Kap's passing skill is elite, love to see him score one and get rolling. I get the chat about Rossi, limited min and all, but did see a few good plays, getting the stick lift on the open guy in the slot to stop a shot chance also there was an open ice hit he bounced off of and the Vegas player ended up on the ice. Not saying he was great, but there were some positives to his game as well. Overall clean up a few things and I think this could be a fun series, falling by 1 (ok 2, last moment EN goal), in game one on their rink where they were 29-9-3 this year isn't the worst thing we could have expected. Looking forward to a late Tuesday/early Wednesday.

[Enforceror]

29 minutes ago, M_Nels said:

Biggest thing for me going into game 2 is will the Wild be able to match that intensity/energy/effort for 3+ more games?

I'm questioning this as well. Arguably, Vegas has to do the same though.

[Patrick]

45 minutes ago, hydguy75 said:

I didn't even pretend to watch the game- but did Hartsy get cross-checked in the face the led to the VGK 3rd lamplighter?

He did get crosschecked in the face but it did not lead to a Vegas goal.

[raithis]

31 minutes ago, Enforceror said:

I'm questioning this as well. Arguably, Vegas has to do the same though.

They'll need to.

They seemed to let the foot off the gas a bit for spans of time in the 2nd and 3rd.  They need to keep it up.  Leave it all out on the ice each game.  Keep pushing.  The next game is two days away. 

Finish the current play and state your case to the refs in the stoppages.  Finish the current game and then worry about the next game later.  Finish the series and worry about the next one if you get there.  Be relentless, there's all off-season to get better.

If they continue to out-hit them like that, the Wild can wear Vegas down.