Knights in rare territory in playoffs under Bruce Cassidy

ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Golden Knights haven’t trailed in a playoff series much under coach Bruce Cassidy.

It’s the Knights’ sixth postseason series since Cassidy became coach in the 2022-23 season and only the third time they’ve trailed.

They weren’t on the ropes last season until they trailed 3-2 to the top-seeded Dallas Stars. They answered with a 2-0 win to force Game 7.

The other time was the first round in their Stanley Cup run in 2023, losing Game 1 to the Winnipeg Jets. The Knights won the next four.

“There was nowhere to go but up after that game,” said Cassidy, chuckling.

The Knights are in rare territory entering Game 4 of their first-round series against the Minnesota Wild on Saturday at Xcel Energy Center.

Minnesota answered the Knights’ 4-2 win in Game 1 with consecutive 5-2 victories, the latest Thursday in St. Paul.

The Knights won’t deny that the one area where they’ve struggled is containing the Wild’s top line. Left wing Kirill Kaprizov and right wing Matt Boldy have combined for 13 points in the series.

Knights center Jack Eichel, captain Mark Stone and left wing Ivan Barbashev have yet to register a point.

But the Knights remain steadfast in that they haven’t been completely outplayed. What might read as a combined 10-4 score in their two losses isn’t indicative of how they’ve played.

They think they’ve fallen behind because of a combination of self-inflicted errors and bad puck luck.

“There’s been some good stretches of hockey from us, for sure,” Stone said. “I think the difference is we’ve kind of spotted them a few chances.”

Puck luck?

That was proven right in Game 2 when four Knights turnovers led to four Minnesota goals in the first 23 minutes.

The breaks came in a different form Thursday.

The Wild got a power play less than three minutes into Game 3 on a too-many-men call on the Knights. That led to the first of two power-play goals for Kaprizov.

Cassidy thought the Knights did a better job controlling play in Game 3, but the Wild got two goals by way of poor puck management. Goaltender Adin Hill’s failed clear led to an open slot shot from Wild center Marco Rossi to put Minnesota up 2-0 in the first period.

The Knights cut the deficit to 2-1 off a long-range shot from defenseman Alex Pietrangelo. But after a missed icing call, defenseman Noah Hanifin was stripped of the puck by Boldy and beat Hill short side to make the score 3-1 in the second period.

Left wing Brett Howden hit the crossbar on a breakaway minutes later. The Wild, meanwhile, got a bounce on a Kaprizov tap-in power-play goal with 1.3 seconds left in the period.

What could have been 3-2 heading into the third period wound up being 4-1.

“I feel there hasn’t been a barrage of chances against us, so our team structure has been good,” Cassidy said. “We just haven’t taken care of the puck in crucial situations, and I don’t think we’ve gotten as much puck luck.”

Keeping things the same

Cassidy kept the lines and pairings the same at Friday’s practice, saying a decision like that could be viewed as a panic move.

It’s not a message Cassidy wants to send, but he let his team know it’s something they have to consider, especially if the Knights head back to T-Mobile Arena for Game 5 on Tuesday with their season on the line.

“We’ve got to be careful that we’re not messing with too much, but I’ll tell you, it’s in the back of your mind,” Cassidy said. “It has to be if you’re not getting the result, but we’re not there yet.”

The Knights are leaning on the veteran leadership and experience from winning to try to secure a split in Minnesota.

A win secures a best-of-three with the Knights regaining home-ice advantage. A loss puts this era of the Knights on the brink in a situation they haven’t been in.

“The series isn’t over. It’s 2-1. Would you like to be up 2-1 or 3-0? Of course. Who wouldn’t?” Stone said. “But it’s never a bad thing to go through a little adversity and work a little bit harder to get what you want. What we want is Game 4.”

Cassidy also is confident his group will rise to that challenge.

“I think it will, and we’re going to find out,” he said. “We haven’t been in my time here. In my short experience here, we have (responded). So, yes, I do believe we will.”

Contact Danny Webster at dwebster@reviewjournal.com. Follow @DannyWebster21 on X.