What We Learned About the Minnesota Wild in Ref-Assisted Playoff Loss vs Vegas

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Matt Boldy: Stanley Cup Playoffs-Minnesota Wild at Vegas Golden Knights
Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images

The 45-30-7 Minnesota Wild dropped the puck on the 2025 NHL Playoffs late Sunday night, in Vegas, against the 50-22-10 Golden Knights. In the final days leading up to the postseason, Minnesota got Kirill Kaprizov, Joel Eriksson Ek, Jared Spurgeon, Marcus Johansson and Jake Middleton all back from injury.

Not only are they healthy again, but the Wild also signed the No. 2 overall prospect in hockey, Zeev Buium, last week. After a few days of practice, the 2024 No. 12 overall pick out of Denver became the first player in franchise history to debut during the playoffs.

What We Learned – Minnesota Wild vs Vegas Golden Knights (Gm 1)

Unfortunately, the MN Wild could not pull out a game one road victory in Sin City. After a hard-fought three periods, Kirill Kaprizov, Matt Boldy & Co fell to the Golden Knights 4-2, thanks to an empty-net goal that crossed the line just as time expired.

NHL: Stanley Cup Playoffs-Minnesota Wild at Vegas Golden Knights
Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images

While the Wild never held a lead Sunday night, they dominated in multiple key facets. Surprisingly enough, that included the faceoff circle where Minnesota won 39 of 65 (60%) pucks dropped. The MN Wild also piled up a franchise playoff record 54 hits, to Vegas’ 29, led by Marcus Foligno’s career-high 11.

In the end, it wasn’t enough, though. Vegas played a stout game defensively and took advantage of opportunities, when they presented themselves. Oh, and the refs gave them plenty of help too. But what’s new, right? If opening night was any indication of what the rest of this series will be like, we’re in for a long, fun first round matchup.

So, without further ado, here’s what we learned about the Minnesota Wild in their game one loss vs the Vegas Golden Knights.

Beating Vegas + blind referees won’t be easy…

Vegas played some good hockey in game one. They deserve their postgame flowers. But it helps to have the referees on your side. Look, there weren’t a lot of penalties being called on Sunday night, period. This is playoff hockey, afterall.

It took until midway through the second period, before the Wild were called for their first penalty. They didn’t draw a power play of their own until later in the third. But boy oh boy, the zebras conveniently closed their eyes for some Golden Knights infractions that, even for a postseason game, were utterly egregious.

One of those missed calls resulted in a Golden Knights goal, too. Before Pavel Dorofeyev’s one-timer put Vegas back on top, 2-1 in the 2nd period, Tomas Hertl committed what has to be one of the most blatant faceoff circle penalties in NHL Playoff history, completely swiping Freddie Gaudreau off his feet and out of the play.

Because Gaudreau had to scramble off the ice, he was way late recovering to the point. Marcus Foligno mistakenly tried covering for him, which proved to be the wrong decision. Wild goalie Filip Gustavsson lost sight of the puck, which had been slid to the weak side, where Foligno should have stayed. Merry Christmas in April to Pavel Dorofeyev.

Related: Zeev Buium Readying for Minnesota Wild Playoff Debut

But if you thought the referees were done helping Vegas after that “missed” tripping/interference call, try again. Early in the third period, Ryan Hartman was battling for a puck up against the boards in the Golden Knights’ zone.

That’s when Vegas defenseman Nicolas Hague spun to his right and brutally cross-checked the Wild forward in the face, knocking Hartman off his skates and onto his back. Major penalty for drawing blood, right? Nope. Apparently, not one referee on the ice saw the assault with a stick taking place directly over the puck….

The Minnesota Wild may have lost game one, but there is still a lot of series left and, if we learned anything tonight, it’s that this could be a very long series against two evenly matched teams. Of course, they wouldn’t be evenly matched if Kirill Kaprizov had not returned to the Wild lineup prior to its start.

The MN Wild will go as Kirill Kaprizov and Matt Boldy go

In the playoffs, superstars shine, and we saw that from Kirill Kaprizov in game one. He created and earned the primary assist on both of Matt Boldy’s goals, and his impact can be felt literally every time he is on the ice. No matter who the Wild are playing against, when he’s healthy, Kirill the Thrill is almost guaranteed to be the most dynamic player on either roster.

And hopefully he is healthy, because the Minnesota Wild are going to skate him in this series as if he is. Tonight, his 21:47 TOI was the second-most ice time of all Wild forwards, behind only Matt Boldy’s 22:31. I expect more Kaprizov in game two, if it’s another tight one.

Related: Minnesota Wild Recall Young Goalie for Playoffs

Sunday night, when he wasn’t creating goals for Boldy, the soon to be 28-year-old Russian phenom was causing havoc in Vegas’ zone on the forecheck or blocking a team-high three Golden Knights shots in front of Filip Gustavsson. And had Kaprizov found a way to put this bouncing puck into the back of the net, game one could have turned out much different.

Nonetheless, the Minnesota Wild need more out of their superstar than just one shot attempt. It’s up Kirill, his teammates and the coaching staff to make sure he gets more opportunities to put pucks in the back of the net on Tuesday night, during game two, which will not drop the puck until 10 p.m. CDT.

That is not a typo. So, get your sleep schedule figured out over the next two days. I’ll have my coffee-maker set for 9 p.m. Probably a mid-day nap, too.

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