Mar 25, 2025; Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA; Vegas Golden Knights heart Jack Eichel (9) skates with the puck as Minnesota Wild defenseman Zach Bogosian (24) defends in the course of the third interval at Xcel Vitality Middle. Obligatory Credit score: Matt Krohn-Imagn Photographs Fifty serves as a symbolic quantity for the Vegas Golden Knights heading into Sport 1 of their Western Convention first-round collection Sunday night time versus the visiting Minnesota Wild.
The Pacific Division champions (50-22-10, 110 factors) hit the 50-win mark for the third time within the group’s eight-year historical past. The primary two instances — in 2017-18 and 2022-23 — the Golden Knights superior to the Stanley Cup Remaining. They hoisted the Cup in 2023 after topping the Florida Panthers in 5 video games.
Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy says his crew should strategy the best-of-seven collection with the Wild (45-30-7, 97 factors), the highest wild-card crew within the West, with the identical want to succeed that the 2023 champions had.
“On the finish of the day, to me, it is the crew that performs the most effective and is hungry,” Cassidy stated. “Earlier than you win a Cup, you might be fairly hungry to get there. We have got to reclaim that feeling we had two years in the past.”
Vegas is a heavy favourite to defeat the Wild — and for good cause. The Golden Knights have received 9 of the final 11 conferences, which incorporates all three of this season’s video games by a mixed 12-4 rating.
Middle Jack Eichel, who had a career-high 94 factors and 66 assists, scored a hat trick within the final assembly on March 25 in Saint Paul, Minn., to spark the 5-1 victory by the Golden Knights. Goaltender Adin Hill, a key cog within the 2023 title run, had 23 saves.
In 2023, Hill got here in for the injured Laurent Brossoit in Sport 3 of the second spherical in opposition to the Edmonton Oilers and went 11-4 with a 2.17 goals-against common and two shutouts. This season because the Golden Knights’ No. 1, he went 32-13-5 with 4 shutouts in 50 video games.
“It’s going to be enjoyable, particularly beginning the primary sport right here at dwelling,” Hill stated. “I be ok with my sport. There’s some little areas clearly I really feel I can enhance on a bit, but it surely form of goes out the window now, and a brand new season begins on Sunday.”
Minnesota wanted a dramatic 3-2 additional time win over the visiting Anaheim Geese in its regular-season finale to lock up its eleventh playoff berth within the final 12 seasons. The Wild, who wanted some extent to clinch a playoff spot, tied it with 20.9 seconds left in regulation on a aim by Joel Eriksson Ek.
Minnesota overcame the lack of star winger Kirill Kaprizov for 41 video games — and Eriksson Ek for six weeks down the stretch — to make the playoffs. Kaprizov, who has 10 targets and 15 factors in 16 regular-season video games in opposition to Vegas, and Eriksson Ek every performed in only one regular-season sport in opposition to the Golden Knights. Each are thought of to be wholesome heading into the playoffs.
Two gamers who stepped up down the stretch for the Wild had been ahead Matt Boldy (team-leading 73 factors and 27 targets) and defenseman Brock Faber, who led the crew in time on ice with a median of 25 minutes, 31 seconds per sport. He additionally starred for the USA within the 4 Nations Face-Off event.
“We have had a number of alternatives to check ourselves, and a few of them we have come by, and a few of them we have not,” stated Wild head coach John Hynes. “So, I believe for us going into the collection, we have needed to battle there, and it should be no completely different within the collection.”
Hynes believes it will likely be a bodily, tight-checking collection with Vegas.
“It doesn’t matter what, it should be a difficult collection for the playoffs,” Hynes stated. “It is not going to be a magnificence contest. It will be hard-fought video games.”
–Area Stage Media
