By Tony Abbott -
It's Minnesota Wild playoff time, baby!
Look, look, we get it: The Wild haven't advanced in the playoffs since 2015, but that's no reason to not get excited. Especially since we've seen this team have the juice in Game 1 in two of their past three trips to the postseason. Get hyped up by re-living Ryan Hartman's double-OT winner against the Dallas Stars back in 2023 (and for the love of god, please don't waste any time thinking about Game 2):
That was so sick. Same with Joel Eriksson Ek's goal to put Minnesota up 1-0 in the game and series back in 2021... against the Golden Knights.
And the hype train doesn't stop there. Zeev Buium is making his NHL debut tonight, and he's a true X-factor for Minnesota this series. Their power play, despite having so much star power, has struggled for times during these past three seasons. Is Buium the rug that ties the room together? The Wild will need that boost if they're to make some noise in this series.
We tried to figure out what Buium can bring to the wild earlier today, based on comparing how teams used Brock Faber, Cale Makar, and Charlie McAvoy when they made their playoff debuts in similar situations.
On the other side of the ice, the Golden Knights have had Minnesota's number for some time now. Since the COVID bubble year, where the Knights and Wild played 15 times between the regular season and the playoffs, Vegas has won 10 of their last 12 games against the Wild, out-scoring them by a 43-26 margin. Is that coincidence, or a sign of being an awful matchup for Minnesota since Jack Eichel's arrival? We'll soon know.
Find the Game:
Time: 9:00pm Central
TV: FanDuel Sports North, ESPN
Stream: FanDuel Sports App, ESPN+
Radio: KFAN 100.3 (and affiliates)
Location: T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas
Tonight's Projected Lineups
Kirill Kaprizov - Joel Eriksson Ek - Matt Boldy
Marcus Johansson - Freddy Gaudreau - Mats Zuccarello
Marcus Foligno - Marco Rossi - Gustav Nyquist
Yakov Trenin - Ryan Hartman - Justin Brazeau
Jonas Brodin - Brock Faber
Jake Middleton - Jared Spurgeon
Zeev Buium (NHL Debut) - Zach Bogosian
Filip Gustavsson (31-19-6, .914 SV% in 2025; career .921 SV% postseason)
Marc-Andre Fleury
Vegas Golden Knights:
Ivan Barbashev - Jack Eichel - Mark Stone
Brandon Saad - Tomas Hertl - Pavel Dorofeyev
Victor Olofsson - William Karlsson - Reilly Smith
Brett Howden - Nicolas Roy - Keegan Kolesar
Nicolas Hague - Alex Pietrangelo
Brayden McNabb - Shea Theodore
Noah Hanifin - Zach Whitecloud
Adin Hill (32-13-5, .906 SV% in 2025; career .932 SV% postseason)
Ilya Samsonov
Best Head-to-Head Matchups:
Minnesota:
Kirill Kaprizov:
10 goals, 15 points in 16 games vs. Vegas
2 goals, 3 points in 7 playoff games vs. Vegas
Gustav Nyquist:
6 goals, 13 points in 15 games vs. Vegas
0 goals, 3 points in 7 playoff games vs. Vegas
Matt Boldy:
3 goals, 9 points in 10 games vs. Vegas
Vegas:
Mark Stone:
5 goals, 28 points in 24 games vs. Minnesota
4 goals, 5 points in 7 playoff games vs. Minnesota
Pavel Dorofeyev:
5 Goals, 8 points in 6 games vs. Minnesota
Jack Eichel:
7 goals, 20 points in 15 games vs. Minnesota
Worst Head-to-Head Matchups:
Minnesota:
Jake Middleton:
0 goals, 0 points, minus-11 in 12 games vs. Vegas
Negative plus-minus in all eight games vs. Vegas with Minnesota
Vegas:
Ivan Barbashev
5 goals, 11 points in 29 regular-season games vs. Minnesota
0 goals, 1 point in 10 playoff games vs. Minnesota
Read More Before Game 1!
What Will Be the Wild's Sling That Slays the Giant in Vegas? (Justin Hein)
What Hope Is There For the Wild Against Vegas? (Tony Abbott)
The Wild Enter the Playoffs Doing the Same Thing and Expecting Different Results (Tom Schreier)
Marco Rossi Can Prove His Doubters Wrong... But Does It Matter? (Tony Abbott)
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