In shades of last year’s play-in series against the Vancouver Canucks, the Minnesota Wild had a chance to regain the series lead on home ice after splitting the first two games. But despite a strong first period that ended with a 2-0 lead, an utter collapse over the second and third led to five unanswered goals by the Vegas Golden Knights, who earned the series lead with a dominant 5-2 victory.
Though Ryan Hartman and Joel Eriksson Ek scored early to give the Wild the early momentum, Marcus Johansson’s first-period injury caused Wild head coach Dean Evason to have to shuffle short lines most of the night, and an overturned goal that would have given Eriksson Ek his second of the game ended up being the turning point Vegas needed to swing the ice in their favor.