The playoffs are a series of games, and a series of important moments that determine which team moves on and — as Minnesota Wild fans know all too well over the past decade — which team is moving out of their locker room for the summer after round one.
The Wild bowed out of the 2025 playoffs after losing to the Vegas Golden Knights in six games, and each of them was defined by a moment that defined the contest, and the ultimate direction of the series.
Game 1 – Play it cool
Vegas entered the playoffs after being whistled for the fewest number of penalties ever in an NHL regular season. It quickly became apparent on Saturday, April 20, that the lack of infractions called on the Golden Knights did not mean they weren’t committing penalty-worthy acts on the ice.
Veteran Wild forward Ryan Hartman took the brunt of the Knights’ physical plays in a 4-2 Vegas win, surviving being tripped, held, boarded and cross checked to the face. He didn’t take the bait and retaliate, and when officials finally penalized Vegas, Minnesota got a needed power play, which saw the first key NHL ice time for rookie defenseman Zeev Buium. Ultimately Minnesota lost the game, but sent a message to Vegas, and to the officials, that regular-season storylines might not hold true in late April.
Game 2 – Flip the script
Scoring the first goal of the game proved to be vitally important in this series, and the Wild got the first four of them in a 5-2 win to even the series. The first 30 minutes on Monday, April 22, were as dominating as Minnesota looked all series, starting with a highlight-reel play by the top-line wingers that didn’t mind playing the role of entertainers just off the legendary Las Vegas Strip.
With the Wild breaking out of their defensive zone in the first period, Matt Boldy sprinted straight up the middle of the rink, and Kirill Kaprizov flipped a long lead pass the caught Boldy perfectly in stride, springing a breakaway and a 1-0 Minnesota lead on the way to a 4-0 advantage midway through the game. Vegas made a push and re-ignited a home crowd that had been stunned into silence, but it was too late, and the Wild headed back to Minnesota owning home ice advantage in the series.
Game 3 – Beat the clock
For once, the propensity of fans to yell “shooooooot!” late in a period paid off, as the Wild took a three-goal lead into the third period and won Game 3 by a 5-2 count to lead the series 2-1. Already leading the game 3-1 and holding off a furious push by the Golden Knights in the second period, the Wild got a power play with less than two minutes before the break.
Hartman knew there was little time left with the puck headed his way and the fans calling for a shot to the net, so before a pass from Marco Rossi reached him, Hartman glanced up at the scoreboard. Seeing less than 5 seconds remaining before the horn, Hartman zipped the puck to the net-front where it glanced off Kaprizov and over the goal line for a 4-1 lead Minnesota would not relinquish. Marcus Foligno made the home crowd roar once more with an empty-net goal to seal the win and the lead in the series.
Game 4 – Painful third
Looking for a 3-1 series lead for the first time in franchise history, the Wild seemed to have everything going their way on the afternoon of Saturday, April 24. They took a 2-1 lead into the third period, and looked to extend their perfect record when leading after 40 minutes — 31-0-0 in the regular season and playoffs. Then Buium made a rookie mistake, tagging Knights forward Mark Stone with an errant high stick, drawing blood and a four-minute penalty.
Minnesota’s penalty killers negated all but eight seconds of the extended man advantage, but Vegas tied the game, took a lead and found the winner in overtime when Ivan Barbashev took advantage of a series of fumbles by the Wild defense around goalie Filip Gustavsson. The series was tied 2-2 heading back to Nevada.
Game 5 – Angry inch
Generations later, Minnesota sports fans still talk about Gary Anderson’s missed field goal that would have sent the Vikings to the Super Bowl in 1999. One wonders if, years from now, Gustav Nyquist’s offside will be mentioned the same way.
Game 5 on Tuesday, April 29, was tied 2-2 in the final two minutes of regulation, and Marc-Andre Fleury was in goal following Gustavsson having to exit the game at the second intermission due to an illness. With under two minutes to play in regulation, Hartman made a rush to the net which concluded with the puck glancing off the forward’s leg and past Vegas goalie Adin Hill for what looked like a critical lead late. A lengthy review revealed that Nyquist had gotten both skates over the blue line maybe an inch ahead of the puck, and the game went to overtime. There, Brett Howden was left uncovered in front of Fleury and scored his third goal of the playoffs to give Vegas a 3-2 win and a 3-2 series lead.
Game 6 – Out of thin air
There was an air of confidence among members of the Wild and their fans on Thursday, May 1, that this series was going back to Vegas for a winner-take-all finale. It was dampened a bit in the first period when Vegas took the lead on a power play after another costly double minor penalty, this time committed by Rossi. Trailing 2-1 in the third period and making a strong push with the support of their fanbase noisily behind them, Stone instead netted the game-winner with less than four minutes remaining, swatting a puck out of the air and past Gustavsson for a two goal Vegas lead with less than four minutes left in regulation.
A pair of goals by Hartman kept things close, but with Gustavsson pulled for an extra attacker, the final seconds ticked away and the Golden Knights advanced to round two with a 3-2 win, taking the series by a 4-2 count.
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