Wild dominate Vegas early, even series 1-1

LAS VEGAS If you return from a four-day trip to Vegas able to say you broke even you re ahead of the event After as dominating a -minute stretch of hockey as they have played this season the Minnesota Wild are heading home from Sin City having broken even in the first minutes of their first-round playoff series against the Vegas Golden Knights The duo of Matt Boldy and Kirill Kaprizov led the way as the Wild took advantage of a rash of Vegas turnovers jumping out to a commanding lead on the way to a - win in Championship of this best-of-seven sending the company back to Minnesota with the series knotted - Challenge of the series is Thursday evening in St Paul Opening faceoff is p m CT Anchoring the squad s top line with Joel Eriksson Ek and Boldy Kaprizov had two goals while Boldy had a goal and an assist Filip Gustavsson stopped shots for the Wild who led - halfway through the challenge quieting the normally raucous crowd inside the rink that locals call the Fortress Minnesota Wild players celebrate a goal by left wing Kirill Kaprizov against Vegas Golden Knights goaltender Adin Hill during the second period of Encounter of a first-round NHL hockey playoff series Tuesday April in Las Vegas AP Photo David Becker Marcus Foligno and Mats Zuccarello scored goals as well as Minnesota beat Vegas for the first time this season in their fifth head-to-head meeting Adin Hill had saves for the Knights Gustavsson was busy right from the start turning aside a pair of Vegas shots in the battle s opening minute including one off of his mask After four minutes the shots were - Knights but the Wild pushed back hard Hill had to stop Ryan Hartman on a solo rush to the net then brought the crowd to its feet when he denied Joel Eriksson Ek with a glove save on what looked like a sure goal shot from the side of the net Undaunted the Wild struck first near the midway point of the opening period when Kaprizov s long lead pass determined Boldy a half-stride ahead of two Vegas defenders at center ice Boldly held off his pursuers long enough to slip a low shot past Hill giving Minnesota its first lead of the series The Wild doubled the lead less than minutes later when Hartman s pass from behind the net located Foligno uncovered at the top of the crease for a quick shot and Foligno s first playoff goal It was - before the period ended after Marcus Johansson s pretty backhand pass from just inside the blue line caught Zuccarello in stride and the veteran wing went around a Knights defender and to the net alone flipping a wrist shot past Hill s glove It was a play that began when a Vegas defender tried to deliver a hard check on Zuccarello along the boards and missed giving Minnesota a numbers advantage heading into the offensive zone Not content with their three-goal advantage the Wild pounced on another Vegas turnover early in the second keying a two-on-one rush with Kaprizov and Boldy Carrying the puck and given the option to pass or shoot Kaprizov took the second option and the puck slipped under Hill s pad after the goalie made the initial save for a - Minnesota lead Vegas made a push midway through the second pinning the Wild s fourth line in their zone for more than a minute with two Minnesota players missing their sticks and forcing Gustavsson to make a trio of saves before the puck deflected out of play But the home group kept pressuring and got on the board with just under eight minutes left in the middle frame when defenseman Noah Hanifin zipped a wrist shot past Gustavsson s glove from feet out Vegas outshot Minnesota - in the second but the Wild emerged up by three goals But the home club kept chipping away at Minnesota s lead with Tomas Hertl getting his second goal of the series early in the third not long after Hill had stuffed an Eriksson Ek scoring chance on the doorstep The let them play approach by the on-ice administrators continued with just one penalty called in the championship The Wild got the encounter s lone power play in the third period but did not get a shot on Hill Vegas defenseman Nicolas Hauge who was not called for a cross check to the face of Hartman in Challenge got away with a clear punch to Kaprizov s face late in Tournament The Russian sniper s revenge came on the ice as he hit an empty net with a -foot shot from beyond the far goal line for the clincher This is the th playoff series in Wild franchise history and they avoided falling in a - hole for the th time with the win