Golden Knights finally break through, tie series against Wild
For the first 4½ periods of their first-round West Division playoff series, the Golden Knights squeezed their sticks and were wound tighter than a banjo string.
They were finally able to exhale a bit Tuesday night. That’s what scoring a few goals will do.
The Knights overcame a sluggish start and relieved the pressure that was starting to mount with a 3-1 victory over the Minnesota Wild in Game 2.
Alex Tuch scored twice to help the Knights even the best-of-seven series in front of an announced crowd of 8,683.
Game 3 is Thursday at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota, where the Wild went 21-5-2 during the regular season.
“This year it’s unbelievable the feeling that we get in the playoffs here,” left wing Jonathan Marchessault said. “We’re not done, and we wanted to get a win for our fans at home.”
Tuch skated on the first line with Max Pacioretty (upper body) still sidelined and helped the Knights snap a four-game postseason losing skid dating to last season’s playoff bubble.
He gave the Knights a 2-1 lead with 2:41 remaining in the second period because of the hustle of Mattias Janmark.
Wild goalie Cam Talbot was unable to glove Alex Pietrangelo’s shot, and Janmark tracked down the rebound behind the net before he centered for Tuch at the top of the crease.
“That was our mentality, to try to get inside of them,” said Tuch, who added a power-play goal late in the third period. “They’re a really good defensive team, so if we’re able to get to the inside, get pucks in there and just kind of whack at him, get a few lucky bounces, it’ll be huge for this series.”
Marc-Andre Fleury started for the second straight game and finished with 34 saves.
He kept the Knights even during the first period when the Wild were buzzing around the net and received help in the third from his crossbar on Victor Rask’s shot at the end of a two-on-one.
“We’re going to need to score more than one a night to beat this team in a seven-game series,” Wild forward Nick Bonino said. “They’re dangerous offensively. Even with our great goaltending, we know they are going to score some goals. We need to get to (Fleury) and get some on him.”
The Knights lost center Tomas Nosek to injury midway through the first period and fell behind at 12:07 of the second period when defenseman Matt Dumba’s shot from the point sailed past a screen and into the top corner.
But before doubt could creep into the building, Marchessault answered 18 seconds later.
He took a pass from Reilly Smith near the blue line and moved to the right circle before firing a shot over the shoulder of Wild goalie Cam Talbot to end the Knights’ 92:25 scoring drought.
“I think in playoffs, little pointers that we need to be aware is the first minute of each period, the last minute of each period and the follow-up goals against and for,” Marchessault said. “I think it was a good shift for us, and obviously we were looking for the first of the series. We got everybody going again.”
The Knights emphasized starting fast and playing from ahead, but had to weather the storm in the first period as the Wild reversed the script from Game 1.
Fleury finished with 17 stops and kept the game even despite Minnesota producing 1.88 expected goals, according to NaturalStatTrick.com.
He needed to be sharp on an early penalty kill, then made a series of saves to deny Kevin Fiala (twice) and Victor Rask with about eight minutes remaining.
“Not necessarily the start that we wanted, but Fleury, it’s just what he does,” Marchessault said. “It’s what we expect from him every night. He gives us a chance to win every night, and he stood on his head in the first period.”
Contact David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow @DavidSchoenLVRJ on Twitter.