LAS VEGAS — The Minnesota Wild got to the playoffs a few weeks ago with their backs against the wall and no margin for error. Maybe that same level of desperation will keep them in the playoffs after an emotional punch to the gut on Tuesday has them facing elimination.

Brett Howden scored in overtime for the Vegas Golden Knights for a 3-2, overtime win in a game where Minnesota never led, lost its starting goalie to an illness and still looked to have won the game with barely a minute left in regulation. After all of that drama, the Wild’s loss gives Vegas a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series.

Howden caught a pass from behind the net and beat Marc-Andre Fleury with a quick shot to close out a game where the home team never trailed.

Game 6 will be played Thursday evening in St. Paul at 6:30 p.m. CT.

“I think our guys are obviously disappointed that we lost the game, but I think there’s a lot of belief,” Wild coach John Hynes said. “You can see the conviction with (which) we play. The last two games could have gone either way. It happened to go their way, but we’ve got another one coming from that. So, all those little things that come out of this game, we’ll be ready for a battle again, and we’ll just have to turn the tides and get one.”

Minnesota Wild left wing Matt Boldy (12) reacts after scoring the tying goal against the Vegas Golden Knights during the third period of Game 5 of a first-round NHL hockey playoff series Tuesday, April 29, 2025, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/David Becker)

Kirill Kaprizov and Matt Boldy maintained their goal-per-game playoff pace, scoring in the first and third periods, respectively, for the Wild, who made a furious push but could not get to three. Minnesota got 23 saves from starter Filip Gustavsson before he was was lifted after 40 minutes due to illness. Fleury played the third period and overtime for Minnesota, finishing with six saves, but gave up the Vegas game-winner.

Adin Hill had 20 saves for Vegas. For the third consecutive trip to the postseason, Minnesota will face elimination in six games after leading the series 2-1.

Minnesota thought the game was won late in regulation only to have an apparent go-ahead goal overturned. Ryan Hartman fired a backhander with 75 seconds left that the Vegas goalie stopped, only to have the rebound carom off Hartman’s leg and in. After video review the officials declared it a good goal, but Vegas then challenged for offside, and reviews showed that Gustav Nyquist had crossed the blue line about an inch ahead of the puck, so the goal came off the board.

“Thought we had the go-ahead goal there, but we brought the game back to where we wanted. We had a chance in OT,” Hartman said. “Obviously, we would have liked if that one counted, but we had a chance on the road in OT to win. But we’re coming back to Minnesota and we need a win at home.”

Nyquist was not made available for interviews by the team following the game.

Minnesota got the game’s first power play, which turned out to be good for both teams. Vegas struck first on a shorthanded rush when William Karlsson was left with a yawning net to hit for his first goal of the playoffs.

Vegas fans were still cheering the early lead 13 seconds later when Kaprizov erased it, taking a cross-ice pass from Mats Zuccarello and firing a low shot that Hill could not stop. It was Kaprizov’s fifth goal of the playoffs, and a return to form after he was held scoreless in Game 4.

Kirill Kaprizov #97 and Ryan Hartman #38 of the Minnesota Wild celebrate after Kaprizov’s power play goal during the first period in Game Five of the First Round of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Vegas Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena on April 29, 2025 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

The Knights answered later in the first when a blast from the blue line by Mark Stone beat Gustavsson low. Karlsson was at the top of the crease when the shot came in and may have made contact with the goalie before the shot arrived. It was enough for Hynes to use a coaches challenge.

When officials ruled it was a good goal, the ensuing delay of game penalty, served by Zuccarello, gave Vegas its first power play of the game. The Wild held them off long enough for Zuccarello to leave the penalty box and come in alone on Hill, but the goalie stuffed the breakaway to maintain the Knights’ one-goal lead after 20 minutes.

The middle frame was just seven seconds old when Boldy was tripped entering the offensive zone, giving the Wild their second power play of the night, but they put nothing on the scoreboard. It was the same for the Knights, who had back-to-back power plays midway through the second period but were thwarted by the Wild’s improving penalty killers — most notably some deft pad work by Gustavsson.

But Gustavsson had been feeling ill all day and was not able to play in after the second intermission.

The third period drama began before the puck was dropped, as Vegas fans saw Fleury coming into the game and chanted the name of the player who backstopped the Golden Knights run to the 2018 Stanley Cup Final. Minnesota did not allow a shot through to the net for nearly 14 minutes, then Boldy took a long lead pass from Joel Eriksson Ek and cut across the goalmouth with Hill leaning the wrong way to knot the score at 2-2.

“It would’ve been perfect with a win,” Fleury said after the game of his unexpected appearance in Vegas.

It was the first time Fleury had played since the Wild’s regular-season finale, when he played in overtime versus Anaheim after Minnesota had clinched a playoff berth.

“This thing is far from over,” Wild defenseman Brock Faber said. “Like I said, they’ve still got to beat us. We’re going to be ready for a war on Thursday.”

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CLEVELAND — As the grounds crew emerged to remove the tarp from the field, Blind Melon’s “No Rain,” the perfect song for the occasion, played over the loudspeaker.

Nearly two hours after the Twins-Guardians game was supposed to start, the tarp was taken off the field — for the first time. By that point, rain had fallen for about a minute. As the skies darkened, the grounds crew emerged once again, pulling the tarp back over the field as managers Rocco Baldelli and Stephen Vogt conferred.

This time it actually rained hard — though that lasted for about five or six minutes. The grounds crew was met by Nickelback’s “Hero,” as they removed the covering from the field.

More than three hours after the game was supposed to begin, it finally started. Once it did, the smattering of fans still left in attendance were treated to a pitcher’s duel, which the Guardians took 2-1 on Tuesday night at Progressive field. Kyle Manzardo hit a walk-off home run off Louie Varland in a game that did not start until 9:20 p.m. local time, 3:10 after it was scheduled to begin.

That home run, which snaps the Twins’ four-game winning streak, came after Twins pitchers — Chris Paddack, Brock Stewart, Griffin Jax and Jhoan Duran — had combined to keep the Guardians off the board since the third inning.

Paddack threw five innings, giving up just one run. It came on the ninth pitch of a battle with catcher Bo Naylor, who saw four straight fastballs before finally hitting the fifth out of the ballpark to give the Guardians a 1-0 lead in the third inning.

Paddack ran into some trouble an inning later, allowing the first two runners to reach base, but was able to wiggle his way out of it with a perfectly-timed double play ball and then a weakly-hit fly ball to Byron Buxton in center.

That effort meant the Twins were trailing by just one when Ty France stepped to the plate to lead off the fifth inning. The first baseman took the third pitch of his at-bat — a fastball from Tanner Bibee — and sent it out to right-center, tying the game.

It was the only run that Bibee, who started his night by retiring 11 straight hitters, gave up in his seven-inning effort. Bibee allowed just five hits in his effort, two to France. After his second, which led off the seventh, France made an aggressive turn around first base and was thrown out trying to get back to the bag.

France singled in the ninth, too, giving the Twins a glimmer of hope, but DaShawn Keirsey Jr., in to pinch run for him, was thrown out by Naylor trying to steal on the first pitch of Jonah Bride’s at-bat. Bride then popped up and Manzardo’s home run ended the game just moments later.

Minnesota’s 6th Senate District will remain in the Republican column after a Tuesday special election to fill the seat vacated following the arrest and resignation of Sen. Justin Eichorn.

With all 80 precincts reporting in the north-central Minnesota district, Republican Keri Heintzeman defeated Democrat Denise Slipy 60% to 40%.

Heintzeman, a business owner and the wife of House District 6B Rep. Josh Heintzeman, R-Nisswa, easily won an eight-candidate GOP primary on April 15. Slipy, an environmental health and safety professional from Breezy Point, ran unopposed in the DFL primary.

The outcome of Tuesday’s special election won’t affect the balance of power in the Senate, where Democrats currently have a two-vote majority. District 6, which stretches from Brainerd and Baxter north to Grand Rapids, has shifted Republican but Democrats had hoped political winds might be shifting.

Eichorn resigned last month after he was charged with attempting to solicit a minor in what turned out to be an underage sex sting operation in Bloomington.

The Grand Rapids resident recently pleaded not guilty to a federal charge of attempted enticement of a minor for prostitution.

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Community members on Tuesday shared feedback on the St. Paul school district’s cash-strapped 2025-26 budget, with some objecting to proposed cuts to early childhood programming and family resources.

The school board will see a proposed budget at its May 20 meeting, and district officials have been hosting community informational meetings on the budget since late March. Board members have until June 30 to finalize the budget for the 2025-26 school year and will vote on the proposal June 10.

The district estimates $732.1 million in expenses in the coming school year, with an estimated $51.1 million budget shortfall. The board has agreed to use $34.9 million in reserve funds for the shortfall, with the remaining $16.2 million to come from budget cuts and new revenue, according to the district.

Last year’s St. Paul Public Schools budget shortfall was around $108 million.

Cuts

Initial staff reduction letters were distributed Friday for positions eliminated due to budget or non-renewal due to performance.

The district, which as of February had 6,088 full- and part-time staff, attributes the budget shortfall to increased expenses — such as increased employee wages and benefits — rising costs of goods and services and no expected increases to state, federal or local revenue to adjust for inflation, outside of the base funding formula and local operating levy.

Parents and community members at Tuesday night’s meeting spoke against cuts to Early Childhood Family Education, or ECFE — a voluntary program for parents and their children below the age for kindergarten enrollment — and Achievement Plus — a private-public partnership between SPPS and the Amherst H. Wilder Foundation that provides resources to families such as health services and food support.

ECFE is facing proposed budget cuts of $1.46 million in the upcoming budget and a reduction from six sites to four.

The Achievement Plus Initiative is set to end June 30, according to Achievement Plus director Rick Gibson in a March statement.

The end of Achievement Plus and its liaison role is a loss of a connection between schools and critical services, such as housing assistance, in-school dental care and summer programs, SPPS parent Amber Rae Bernhardt said at Tuesday meeting.

“Cutting this program is not a cost-saving measure, it’s a cost-shifting measure — shifting the burden onto the backs of struggling families and underresourced schools,” Bernhardt said.

Other parents urged the school board to consider the community and support that ECFE has provided parents. ECFE programming includes parent discussion groups, early health and developmental screenings for children and home visits, among other resources.

“I am sure you will have better students and citizens with more involved, more prepared and more sound parents. Do whatever it takes to find a budget, even if it is asking for our help,” said SPPS parent Liliana Sanchez.

Guidelines and next steps

The overall budget amount allocated to schools will increase by approximately 6%, or $26.2 million, in 2025-26. This is primarily due to increased enrollment, more students in special education and expanded middle school options, according to the district. SPPS saw an increase in enrollment for the 2024-25 school year compared with last, the first year in a decade it had higher enrollment than the year before. Nearly all district revenue — such as state aid and local property taxes — is tied to enrollment.

The board has three guidelines for the budget, which include sustaining funding for early education in order to retain and prepare students for elementary school; sustaining funding for enrollment efforts; and sustaining expenditures for increasing student engagement and decreasing absenteeism.

The board will address Tuesday’s community feedback at its May 6 meeting. The proposed budget will continue to be updated until its approval in June.

Feedback can be also shared on the district’s website at tinyurl.com/2exswt7s.

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