There was a clear headliner of the undrafted free agents that signed with the Vikings.

Gophers quarterback Max Brosmer.

After not hearing his name called in the 2025 NFL draft, Brosmer signed with the Vikings in the immediate aftermath. He will reportedly get a deal with $250,000 guaranteed. The addition of Brosmer rounds out a talented quarterback room that also includes presumed starting quarterback J.J. McCarthy, presumed backup quarterback Sam Howell, and reserve Brett Rypien.

It’s a great situation for Brosmer to walk into as he’ll get to work directly with head coach Kevin O’Connell as he learns the ropes of the position at the next level.

The other 18 undrafted free agents the Vikings signed (in alphabetical included BYU edge rusher Tyler Batty, Texas receiver Silas Bolden, Kansas offensive lineman Logan Brown, Georgia edge rusher Chaz Chambliss, Auburn punter Oscar Chapman, North Carolina State offensive lineman Zeke Correll, Tulane receiver Dontae Fleming, Kansas State cornerback Keenan Garber, Wisconsin offensive lineman Joe Huber, Auburn linebacker Austin Keys, Auburn receiver Robert Lewis, Auburn linebacker Dorian Mausi, North Carolina tight end Bryson Nesbit, Miami safety Mishael Powell, Jacksonville State running back Tre Stewart, Utah cornerback Zemaiah Vaughn, Middle Tennessee State defensive lineman Alex Williams, and Georgia tight end Ben Yurosek.

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What a shame.

The Wild did almost everything right in Game 4 of their first-round playoff series against Las Vegas on Saturday. Almost. That’s good enough for some NHL teams; it isn’t for this Wild team, for which the other shoe always seems close to dropping — and often does.

That other shoe is special teams, which have haunted Minnesota for two full seasons now — and longer when one assesses their previous two postseason appearances. It was inevitable they would bite the Wild at some point during this year’s postseason, and it came Saturday when Vegas scored a pair of power-play goals to beat the Wild in overtime, 4-3, at Xcel Energy Center.

After two strong wins in Vegas and St. Paul, the Wild not only had a chance to take a 3-1 series back to Las Vegas, but looked as if they would. Despite falling behind on Shea Theodore’s power play goal in the first 7 minutes, the Wild kept grinding and took a 2-1 lead into the third period on greasy goals by Marco Rossi and Marcus Foligno.

The Wild were playing a tight, responsible game and goaltender Filip Gustavsson was in control (he finished with 42 saves). They even killed two off other man advantages. Then less than 2 minutes into the third period, Zeev Buium, a rookie playing his fourth NHL game, got his stick under the helmet of Matt Stone and cut the top-liner’s right eye.

Buium was sent to the box for 4 minutes on a double minor. Uh oh.

It’s one thing to ask this team to kill 2 minutes when a man down; it’s another entirely to ask them to do it for 4 minutes. They came close, but with 8 seconds left, fourth-line center Nicolas Roy pounced on a rebound in the slot and fired it back into the net to make it 2-2.

That changed just about everything.

Knights skaters hadn’t really been in sync to that point, just missing on a lot of passes and pucks, perhaps because, you know, a 3-1 series deficit is hard to come back from. But after tying in, Vegas looked refreshed and took a 3-2 lead when a shot from Stone caromed off teammate Tomas Hertl, who was in a heap with Ryan Hartman at the crease.

Jared Spurgeon tied it again, 3-3, with a wraparound goal with 9:03 left in regulation, but the Wild were gassed. They came out firing in overtime but couldn’t solve Adin Hill and finally ran out of steam. It didn’t help that coach John Hynes was essentially playing five defenseman for most of the third period and overtime.

After last season, Hynes fired former assistant Bob Woods and brought in former Islanders head coach Jack Capuano, and promoted Pat Dwyer from Iowa, to look under the hood. The nuts and bolts might have changed, but the results haven’t. The Wild had the NHL’s third-worst penalty kill in 2023-24 and finished the regular season this year in the exact same spot after allowing 56 power-play goals.

Their two postseason trips prior to this one were undone by special teams, and now — four power-play goals against later — this one is tilting the same way.

Back in 2023, the Wils were up on Dallas in a first-round series, 2-1, before the Stars went 2 for 3 with a man advantage and beat Minnesota 3-2 in Game 4. At that point, the Stars were 6 for 16 with a man advantage, and Dallas scored two more on the way to a 4-2 series victory.

In 2022, the Wild were up on St. Louis, 2-1, before losing in six. They allowed six power-play goals in that one. At some point, this becomes unacceptable. Staying out of the box isn’t a viable penalty kill plan.

Afterward, Hynes said he was happy with the kill, saying it’s “in a really good spot.”

“We got good saves, we had good attention to detail, we killed well,” he said. “You come into a game like this, you look at the way we played, tonight you could arguably say there were a couple bounces that didn’t go our way.”

“Here we are,” he added. “Love it.”

It’s true, this series isn’t over, now a best-of-three starting Tuesday in Vegas. But it feels as if that other shoe will be there, too, waiting to drop.

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Ivan Barbashev scored late in the first overtime as the Vegas Golden Knights rallied for a 4-3 win to forge a 2-all tie in their best-of-seven series with the Minnesota Wild on Saturday afternoon.

Taking advantage of two misplays by the Wild defense near their net, Barbashev shoveled in a loose puck. The Knights trailed by a goal in the final period, but scored three of the game’s final four goals to recapture home-ice advantage as the series heads back to Nevada.

The loss negated a 43-save effort by Minnesota goalie Filip Gustavsson, as the Wild got goals from Marco Rossi, Marcus Foligno and Jared Spurgeon but fell just short of a 3-1 series lead for the first time in franchise history.

Adin Hill had 29 saves for the Knights, who had lost the previous two games after a win in the series opener.

Minnesota had killed a quartet of penalties in the Game 3 win, but Vegas got an early man advantage on Saturday and struck first when defenseman Shea Theodore sent a long-range shot through a mess of bodies in front of Gustavsson. It was some much-needed good news for Theodore, who had struggled defensively in the first three games of the series.

The Wild pulled even when Rossi got his second goal of the series in a notably similar fashion as his first of the series — getting a pass from behind the net and popping in a quick shot from the top of the crease. The Knights had a notable advantage in shots in the opening period but not a lead on the scoreboard.

Foligno’s third goal of the series, early in the middle frame, gave the Wild the lead when he popped in the rebound after Hill stopped a Ryan Hartman shot from the hashmarks. With the assist, Hartman became the second player in Wild franchise history to record a helper in each of the first four games of a playoff series.

Leading 2-1 early in the third, Wild rookie defenseman Zeev Buium took his first NHL penalty, and it was a big one. His high stick to the face of Vegas top-liner Mark Stone drew blood, and a double minor.

The Wild managed to kill all but eight seconds of the 4-minute penalty, but Nicolas Roy tied the game after Gustavsson made a pair of saves, but the Wild could not clear the loose puck. The goal came a few minutes after Roy had delivered a punch to the face of Wild defenseman Jake Middleton, with no penalty called, which did not sit well with the home crowd in Minnesota.

The boos got even louder when Vegas took the lead near the midway point of the third on a fluky deflection when Stone banked a puck off Tomas Hertl in front of the net. But the Wild answered less than a minute later on Spurgeon’s wraparound, with Kaprizov causing trouble at the net front. Yakov Trenin had a breakaway for Minnesota on the next shift, but Hill denied the backhander that was aiming for the goalie’s five-hole.

Minnesota had a power play in overtime after Joel Eriksson Ek drove hard to the crease and was flattened by Roy, who was called for holding on the play. The Wild tested Hill on the man advantage but could not break through.

Wild winger Marcus Johansson, who suffered a lower-body injury in Game 3, was scratched from the Game 4 lineup. Vinnie Hinostroza took Johansson’s place, playing wing on the third line. It was the ninth career playoff game for Hinostroza, who was claimed off waivers by the Wild in early February. He previously played in the postseason for Chicago and Arizona.

Game 5 will be played on Tuesday evening at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The start time is expected to be announced by the NHL on Sunday.

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Kody Clemens was trying to go to sleep on Friday night around 9:30 p.m. at his Houston home when he got a text from his agent letting him know that he should stay near his phone.

Clemens, who was designated by assignment by the Phillies on Wednesday, had returned home as he waited to hear where he was headed next and sure enough, Phillies general manager Preston Mattingly called shortly to let Clemens know the news: He had been traded to the Twins.

The Twins, who received news on Friday night that Luke Keaschall would be sidelined with a broken forearm after being hit by a pitch, pounced, acquiring the infielder for cash considerations.

“(I’m) pumped to be here,” said Clemens, the son of seven-time Cy Young Award winner Roger Clemens. “It’s a quick turnaround, but I obviously got the news and my family is super excited and I’m happy to be here.”

Most likely to see playing time on the right side of the infield, Clemens has played parts of four seasons in the majors. This year with the Phillies, he was hitless in six at-bats.

Though he claimed a spot on the Phillies’ roster out of camp, the 29-year-old played sparingly.

“It was a little confusing just because they kept me out of spring training,” Clemens said. “I had a really good spring and then didn’t really get any chance to play. It made sense with the roster construction they have — I’m not dumb to that. I’m just super excited for this opportunity here.”

The opportunity in Minnesota arose because the Twins have a handful of players on the injured list. Keaschall was placed on the IL on Sunday for what is expected to be an extended stay.

Willi Castro (oblique) landed on the injured list days earlier. Royce Lewis (hamstring) has been out since mid-March with a hamstring strain but has started a rehab assignment with St. Paul, and outfielder Matt Wallner is dealing with a hamstring strain of his own and not expected to return soon.

Compounding that is the fact that two other members of the 40-man roster, Jose Miranda and Austin Martin, are both on the injured list at Triple-A, leading to the need for another infielder.

“You really have two options when situations like this come up: You can sit around complaining about it, or you can try to find some answers and make moves and adjust and adapt,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “That’s the way we’re going to approach it.”

Briefly

Joe Ryan will start the series finale on Sunday looking to rebound from a tough start in Atlanta during which he gave up three home runs and six runs. The Angels will send José Soriano to the mound. The game time was moved up to 12:40 p.m. CT to with the Timberwolves/Lakers game taking place next door at the Target Center at 2:30 p.m. … After a tough start to the season, reliever Griffin Jax has now turned in three straight scoreless outings, striking out three batters in the seventh inning on Saturday. “(He) looks completely like Griffin,” Baldelli said.