Vegas Golden Knights’ Mark Stone (61) celebrates with teammates after scoring a goal against the Minnesota Wild during the second period in Game 3 of a first-round NHL hockey playoff series Thursday, May 20, 2021, in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo/Stacy Bengs)
Wednesday, May 26, 2021 | 2 a.m.
ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Golden Knights didn’t want to return to Minnesota.
In a perfect world they would have closed out the first round playoff series against the Wild on Monday, when a season-best 11,000 fans were at T-Mobile Arena as pandemic restrictions continued to be loosened.
The Golden Knights outplayed Minnesota for most of the game, but couldn’t turn repeated chances — they outshot Minnesota, 40-14 — into goals in a 4-2 defeat.
And, so here we are back in Minnesota, where Vegas at 6 p.m. tonight will try to close the best-of-seven game series in Game 6 at Xcel Energy Center.
“I don’t think it matters where we’re playing,” forward Reilly Smith said. “We’re a confident a group and we’re prepared to win in different buildings. We’re not going to have a different mindset going into the next game.”
Regardless of the sport, winning the clinching game of a series is easier said than done. Vegas is no exception with a 2-7 record in close-out games since the inaugural season. They’ve twice in had 3-1 leads in a series, only to be forced into a Game 7.
“We’ve got a lot of guys in that room that have been on deep runs. They know that the path in the playoffs isn’t always straight,” coach Pete DeBoer said. “There are some hills and valleys and you’ve got to keep an even keel and get ready for the next one.”
Vegas has confidence playing in Minnesota, where it scored nine goals in winning Game 3 and Game 4 of the series. Minnesota still hasn’t reached that total in five games with eight goals.
And road teams have won four out of five games this series, meaning one of two things will happen tonight: The Golden Knights will make it five of six and start packing for Colorado for the next round, or the Wild will win their first of the series at home and force a Game 7 on Friday in Las Vegas.
The Golden Knights would much prefer the former.
