LAS VEGAS — A veteran like Ryan Hartman didn’t need any kind of refresher course on the physical rigors of playoff hockey, but he was handed a one course anyway in the Minnesota Wild’s Game 1 loss to Vegas on Sunday night.

Hartman was knocked down, knocked over, tripped up, boarded and cross-checked to the face. Only one of those affronts (the boarding) merited a penalty on the Golden Knights, drawing the ire of Wild fans and some national pundits who felt that Vegas got away with some dirty play.

Hartman has been suspended numerous times in his career, most recently when he missed eight games in February and March for disciplinary reasons. With that reputation preceding him, there was speculation that the physical play directed his way may have been strategic on Vegas’ part, trying to elicit a retaliation.

Hartman, to his credit, was having none of it on Sunday. Asked if more should have been called, he noted that both teams had a power play, although technically the Golden Knights had two.

“You know, you’ve just gotta bite your tongue and keep going. I think that’s the biggest thing,” teammate Marcus Foligno said on Monday while praising Hartman for keeping his cool. “I think he understands it and there’s gonna be things that don’t get called for him, and I think that he’s in that mindset where he’s like, ‘OK, this is how it’s gonna go, then I just got suck it up and and just play for the team.’ ”

Centering the team’s fourth line between Yakov Trenin and Justin Brazeau, Hartman logged more than 14 minutes with three of the team’s shots on goal, and three of the team’s 54 hits, in a 4-2 loss t T-Mobile Arena.

“That’s what you need. I thought it was channeling his competitive nature the right way,” Wild coach John Hynes said Monday afternoon. “I think he was one guy that I felt played a strong game. Loved the discipline that he played with when he could have (gone) off the rails. But I think that’s a good message to our team, too, that he’s willing to sacrifice those things for the good of the team. And his mindset was he just played.

“Regardless of what happened to him last night, he played and competed the right way.”

No blaming the stripes

Vegas set an NHL record in 2024-25 with just 197 penalties in 82 games, the cleanest regular season in league history. Although it was clear from some of the plays on Sunday, not just directed at Hartman, that just because a team isn’t called for penalties does not always mean they’re not committing them.

But if Wild fans want an excuse for the loss, their coach said to look somewhere else.

“I thought the refs did a good job last night, to be honest,” Hynes said, pointing out that there is a more thorough game review system and more access to officials in the playoffs. “The way it goes is if there’s certain things that you see or certain things that (Vegas coach) Bruce (Cassidy) sees, and he wants to bring up, then you bring them up to the supervisor, and he’ll give you the answers that you need. I think you know you don’t get as much of that in the regular season.”

Hynes did say after the game that he thought Wild center Marco Rossi was interfered with on the penalty kill faceoff that Vegas won to set up a power play goal.

While the Wild have not gotten a reputation for stellar special teams play this season, they feel that if this is a let-them-play kind of series, and they can play more five-on-five, it’s to Minnesota’s benefit.

“I’ve always been a fan of 5-on-5 hockey, right?” said defenseman Jake Middleton. “I don’t get to play on the power play, and (penalty) kill’s always a little nerve wracking. For hockey games to be decided by penalties always kind of (stinks). You want to play best-on-best, five-on-five hockey and I thought the way the game was officiated last night was great. You always want a little more, but we got away with some, too.”

With Matt Boldy in the penalty box when Vegas scored into an empty net in the final second of Sunday’s game, the Golden Knights were officially 2-2 on the power play in the series opener, while Minnesota went 0-1.

Black Aces inbound from Iowa

The NHL allows for expanded rosters in the playoffs, meaning that the Wild locker room and ice sheet will be a bit more crowded when they get back to Minnesota for Game 3 and beyond.

On Monday, the team announced that eight players are on their way from Des Moines. The call-ups are nicknamed “Black Aces,” a moniker that dates back to 1940.

The players recalled by the Wild include forwards Travis Boyd, Brendan Gaunce, Hunter Haight, Ben Jones and Liam Ohgren, defensemen Cameron Crotty and Carson Lambos and goaltender Samual Hlavaj.

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By DEE-ANN DURBIN

Chipotle Mexican Grill is coming to Mexico.

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The California-based chain said Monday it’s planning to open a restaurant in Mexico early next year, its first location south of the border in its 30-year history.

Chipotle is partnering with Alsea in Mexico City, a company that operates Domino’s, Starbucks, Burger King, Chili’s and other brands in South America and Europe. Alsea plans to explore additional expansion in Mexico and other locations in the region.

Nate Lawton, Chipotle’s chief business development officer, said the company is confident that its menu will resonate with Mexican diners.

“The country’s familiarity with our ingredients and affinity for fresh food make it an attractive growth market for our company,” Lawton said in a statement.

But at least one U.S.-based Mexican chain has struggled to make it in Mexico. Taco Bell opened a few outlets in Mexico City in 1992 but they closed within two years. The brand opened another store in Monterrey, Mexico, in 2007 which also didn’t last.

The expansion arrives as President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Mexican imports could increase costs for U.S. Chipotle locations.

Last week, the U.S. Commerce Department said it plans to withdraw from a 2019 agreement suspending an antidumping investigation into fresh tomato imports from Mexico. That termination, set to take effect July 14, means most tomatoes from Mexico will be subject to a 20.91% tariff.

Chipotle gets around half of its avocados from Mexico, but so far those are not subject to tariffs.

Chipotle, which was founded in Denver in 1993, has 3,700 restaurants and plans to open up to 345 new locations this year.

It has been focused on growing its international footprint. Last year, it partnered with Alshaya Group to open a restaurant in Kuwait, its first new market in a decade. It now has three restaurants in Kuwait and two in the United Arab Emirates.

The biggest nugget from Kevin O’Connell on Monday afternoon at TCO Performance Center came roughly 20 minutes into his press conference.

After answering multiple questions about J.J. McCarthy, the first-round draft pick who didn’t play as a rookie because of a torn meniscus, O’Connell provided an important update about the future franchise quarterback as the Vikings arrived back in the building for the start of their offseason program.

“I’d consider him full,” O’Connell said. “No limitations.”

That’s good news for the Vikings, as McCarthy should be able to hit the ground running.

Though he hasn’t yet been named the starter, and an official announcement won’t come anytime soon, McCarthy is expected to take reps with the first team when the Vikings return to the field next month — not surprising considering the Vikings selected McCarthy with the No. 10 pick in the 2024 NFL draft.

It will still be a slow build for McCarthy in the interim, however, as the next couple of weeks will be mostly limited to meetings and strength-and-conditioning at the forefront. That will give McCarthy a chance to get reacclimated with his teammates before the Vikings are allowed to get into a more competitive environment during organized team activities and mandatory minicamp.

“The spring is set up perfect for J.J. with where he’s at,” O’Connell said. “All of it is kind of going to be systematically planned out for him, and he’s ready to attack it.”

There should be plenty of exposure for McCarthy over the next month. The only other quarterback on the roster right now is Brett Rypien, and while the Vikings are expected to add a veteran presence to the room at some point, they still haven’t got around to it.

“We’ve been patient and evaluated a lot of different ways that we can potentially do that,” O’Connell said while noting that the Vikings could either sign a free agent or make a trade. “We’ve got a pretty detailed plan for how we want to go about it.”

As he finishes up his rehab, McCarthy has been throwing a lot, trying his best to simulate some of the things he’s going to be asked to do in the offense. Technically, O’Connell is prohibited from giving any instruction right now, per league rules, so he has been getting updates about McCarthy’s progress from afar.

“Now, it’s a matter of applying it with his teammates,” O’Connell said. “We can start projecting how we can craft this offense to make sure that we’re doing the things that he does well naturally, while also challenging him to grow that pot of inventory that we can ultimately pull from.”

The fact the Vikings can start thinking that far down the road despite the fact McCarthy has missed so much time is a testament to the countless hours he has dedicated to making sure he’s ready for this moment.

“It has not been lost on me the way he has worked and progressed through his rehab,” O’Connell said. “He always leaves here better than he was when he got here that morning. That’s a pretty good trait to have for a quarterback, especially a young guy who’s going to keep getting better.”

Minnesota Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy (9) pass to wide receiver Jalen Nailor (83) against the Las Vegas Raiders in the second quarter of a NFL football preseason game at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis on Saturday, Aug., 10 2024. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)

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Mayor Melvin Carter during his annual “State of the City” address Monday urged the city council to adopt a legislative package intended to spur new housing in the city while still protecting tenants from spikes in rent.

Carter thanked Council Members Rebecca Noecker, Saura Jost and Anika Bowie for proposing to eliminate “rent stabilization” for residential buildings that received their certificate of occupancy after 2004, which he called a key step toward boosting housing production. He also thanked Council Member Cheniqua Johnson for leading the way on a series of proposed tenant protections. The council likely will vote on both efforts next month.

The mayor has been calling for the rent control changes since his budget address in August. There’s no easy solution to stable, affordable housing in a high-poverty city, Carter said Monday, framing housing as not only a citywide crisis but an opportunity for downtown St. Paul, where over 90 percent of residences are occupied, even as a third of the area’s office space sits vacant.

“We’re facing a real challenge,” Carter told a supportive crowd of onlookers at the city’s new North End Community Center. “The shift to hybrid work has emptied out offices. Commercial values are down. Key buildings sit dark. And downtowns across the country are still figuring out what comes next. But we’re not waiting to see what happens. We’re acting — with urgency, vision and a plan.”

St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter makes a point during the 2025 State of Our City address at the North End Community Center in St. Paul on Monday, April 21, 2025. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)

The mayor doubled down on a goal he set mid-2023 to draw 20,000 more residents downtown, calling attention to office-to-housing conversions such as the Stella, a 174-apartment project at the former Ecolab University building on Wabasha Street. Landmark Tower will begin leasing soon, and the city is studying converting the annex building across from City Hall on 4th Street into a combination of housing and public space. Another plan would add homes and street-level retail at the Green Line’s Central Station stop.

The city has offered $1 million in incentivizes for office-to-housing conversions while cutting permitting fees and red tape. There’s $1.4 million to support business growth downtown and across neighborhoods. And another $1 million or so this year will pay for extra downtown patrols, cameras, public art and additional signage, trash cans, lights and tree trimming.

Air of uncertainty

Carter promoted few new initiatives Monday, focusing instead on ongoing efforts to stabilize downtown St. Paul, including a proposal to renovate the Xcel Energy Center.

The mayor gave his address in the gleaming gym of the long-awaited, $31 million community hub and recreation center that debuted this month at Rice Street and Lawson Avenue — an example, he said, of the city’s commitment to its under-resourced neighborhood spaces.

The backdrop for the mayor’s progressive policies has changed dramatically from just a year ago, when Minnesota enjoyed a sizable state surplus and a Democrat held the White House. Without calling out President Trump by name, Carter acknowledged new levels of political and financial uncertainty for the city under the new administration.

St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter, joined by his wife, Sakeena Futrell-Carter, and daughter Amila, 5, listen as St. Paul Council President Rebecca Noecker introduces him before his 2025 State of Our City address at the North End Community Center in St. Paul on Monday, April 21, 2025. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)

“Especially today when violent and hateful rhetoric seeks to permeate our public sphere … let’s resist the urge to yell back,” Carter said. “Our police officers will not become federal immigration agents, no matter how loud the clamor rises. We will fight threats to our city’s federal funding in court and in Congress and everywhere in between.”

The mayor opened and closed his speech with references to the importance of “showing up” for one another — perhaps a jab at a city council beset by inconsistent meeting attendance and in-fighting that recently led to a former legislative aide’s defamation suit against a council member and the city.

Crime, public safety

Carter on Monday highlighted the city’s progress on violent crime, emphasizing that as a result of targeted interventions, St. Paul has yet to record a gun-related homicide this year, after a recent high of 40 such killings in 2022. And non-fatal shootings are down 73% from the same time last year.

Likewise, auto thefts have dropped from 859 in early 2022 to 236 as of March, and carjackings from 23 to five.

The mayor attributed those gains to a new non-fatal-shooting unit within the police department that seeks to prevent retaliative shootings. The department this year has cleared 71% of its shooting cases, up from 38% last year, he said. The city’s Office of Neighborhood Safety promotes programs like “Familiar Faces” and “Project PEACE,” which have targeted services and interventions to frequent fliers in the criminal justice system.

St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter presents the St. Paul Medal of Honor to Matt Reilly, in honor of his late wife, St. Paul Police Officer Felicia Reilly, during the 2025 State of Our City address at the North End Community Center in St. Paul on Monday, April 21, 2025. Officer Reilly passed away in March 2025 from injuries received while on duty in 2010. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)

Meanwhile, Carter noted the city’s first responders have expanded the use of suboxone and Narcan for fentanyl users “to help people begin recovery the moment they’re ready.” The mayor said 840 Minnesotans died from opioid overdoses last year, including an 18-month-old St. Paul child on Christmas Day.

Garbage, roads and permitting

Boosted by a new 1% citywide sales tax, St. Paul has completed more than 70 long-deferred Parks and Recreation improvements, including new courts, fields and playgrounds. “That’s $11.5 million already delivered and another $11.8 million on the way,” the mayor said. Another $24 million will be spent improving 50 miles of roads, including resurfacing streets and repairing sidewalks and signage.

The city will launch a pilot program called The Loop, a free after-school transportation route that helps young people get to libraries, rec centers and other safe spaces.

At no cost to property owners, the city last year replaced 1,000 lead-based water lines, and the mayor said he hopes to double the pace.

St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter exits the stage following his 2025 State of Our City address at the North End Community Center in St. Paul on Monday, April 21, 2025. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)

Despite a last-minute zoning dispute with the council, the city launched citywide garbage collection with a new trash hauling partner — FCC Environmental — to empty carts for some 60,000 residential accounts. About 10% of the city — the hardest-to-service routes — is now handled by Public Works workers, who will also focus on clearing out hotspots for illegal dumping. Later this summer, a new furniture recycling program will aim to “responsibly dispose of some of the most commonly dumped items in our city,” Carter said.

The city also is launching an online, one-stop portal where residents and business owners can schedule and pay for inspections — PAULIE, the city’s new Permitting and Licensing Utility Inspection Engine. The goal is to work alongside “virtual inspections,” where the city’s Department of Safety and Inspections conducts select building inspections remotely using video and mobile platforms.

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