3 takeaways: Knights stumble in Game 3, trail Wild in series

ST. PAUL, Minn. — For the first time in the Stanley Cup Playoffs under coach Bruce Cassidy, the Golden Knights don’t have an answer.

The Minnesota Wild, for the moment, are in clear control.

The Wild scored five times for the second consecutive game, defeating the Knights 5-2 in Game 3 of their first-round series Thursday at Xcel Energy Center.

Minnesota leads the series 2-1. Game 4 is at 1 p.m. Saturday in St. Paul.

“There’s no need for panic,” center William Karlsson said. “It’s one game at a time.”

Defenseman Alex Pietrangelo and right wing Reilly Smith scored their first goals of the playoffs.

Goaltender Adin Hill was on the hook for four goals allowed for the second straight game. He finished with 17 saves and was pulled after the second period. Akira Schmid stopped all nine shots he faced.

Cassidy said the decision was a combination of giving Schmid some reps while also resting Hill for an early start time Saturday.

“If we’re going to skate tomorrow, Hilly would be the first to admit he needs a good practice to regain his footing and feel good about his game,” Cassidy said. “Having said that, we felt that we could win with any guy.”

Meanwhile, the Wild’s top line, which has been a force in this series, continued its run of terror.

Left wing Kirill Kaprizov scored twice on the power play, and right wing Matt Boldy scored his fourth goal of the series to give the duo 12 points through three games.

The Knights’ top line of center Jack Eichel, captain Mark Stone and left wing Ivan Barbashev went without a point for the third straight game.

“Just got to find a way to create some offense,” Barbashev said. “There’s some pieces that are missing, but today was a little bit better. I don’t think we’ve put enough pucks to the net.”

The momentum the Wild secured Tuesday carried over into Game 3 with Minnesota jumping out to a two-goal lead.

Following a too-many-men penalty on the Knights, Kaprizov’s point shot beat a screened Hill at 3:13 to open the scoring.

Less than four minutes later, at 6:51, Wild center Marco Rossi got open in the slot after Hill’s clearing attempt failed, making it 2-0.

Pietrangelo answered with a four-on-four goal at 10:48 to cut the lead to 2-1.

That woke the Knights up. They got pucks deep and dominated possession time in the offensive zone. The Wild countered by taking away the middle of the ice and keeping the Knights to the outside.

That game plan worked for the most the second period. The Wild spent most of the frame in their zone while the Knights tried to capture some offensive momentum.

“I think we’ve been good on the forecheck,” Karlsson said. “They were hard in the neutral (zone), tried to clog up that middle.”

The momentum vanished quickly.

Minnesota took advantage of a missed icing call when Boldy sprinted, stripped the puck from defenseman Noah Hanifin and beat Hill short side at 11:05 to make it 3-1.

Cassidy said the linesman “blew the call. It’s that simple.” However, “you’ve got to play hockey,” he added, noting Hanifin slowed up on the play.

Kaprizov capped off the second with his second goal with 1.3 seconds left, making it 4-1.

Smith cut it to 4-2 on a short-handed goal with 8:26 left, but that was all the Knights could generate.

It’s not the first time the Knights have trailed in a series under Cassidy. They’ve found answers before.

Right now, they’re hard to come by with not much time to find them.

“All we can focus on is the next one and have status quo going back to Vegas,” Karlsson said. “That’s what we’re aiming for.”

Here are three takeaways from the loss:

1. Quiet power play

The Knights’ power play, second-best in the league in the regular season, picked a bad time to go cold.

The Knights went 0-for-4 on the man advantage, with three chances coming in the third period.

Power plays were going to be hard to come by in a series in which both teams are in the top five in fewest penalties drawn.

Cassidy said he would have liked to see more second chances.

“I thought we got some good looks, but we didn’t recover pucks to break them down again, tire them out,” he said.

2. Knights aggressors

The Wild dominated the hit counter in the first two games. Thursday was the Knights’ turn to try.

They outhit the Wild 42-26, with Barbashev leading the way with 11. He had eight in the first period.

Hits won’t sway the outcome, but the Knights seemed to wear the Wild down as the game went on.

“I think we’ve got to be harder on them,” Barbashev said. “I think we let them off the hook a little bit in Game 1 and Game 2. To us, it’s a little wake-up call.”

3. Gustavsson shines

Wild goaltender Filip Gustavsson had his best performance of the series with 30 saves, including some key stops in the third period.

He robbed Eichel on a one-timer on the power play, then stopped a slot attempt from center Tomas Hertl on the six-on-four advantage late.

That save led to Wild left wing Marcus Foligno scoring an empty-netter with 1:33 to go.

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