They don’t always get the man advantage… but when they do, the Golden Knights make good on their chances. That’s been the story of Vegas’ special teams this season, the club drawing the second fewest penalties league-wide in the regular season but putting up the second-best power-play success rate. 

We saw both sides of that play out Sunday night against the Minnesota Wild. For as physical as Game 1 was between these Western Conference foes, the penalty boxes stayed mostly vacant — only three minor penalties were called all game. Unfortunately for Minnesota, both Wild penalties resulted in a Vegas goal as the Golden Knights took the series-opening victory 4-2.

Just five seconds into Joel Eriksson Ek’s high-sticking minor in the second period of what was at the time a 1-1 game, Pavel Dorofeyev fired a one-timer from the right dot that blazed past Filip Gustavsson so fast the netminder didn’t have a chance to adjust. The play was perfectly executed right from the offensive-zone face-off, with Hertl dishing it to Shea Theodore who masterfully dragged the puck and faked a slapshot only to deliver a perfect pass to Dorofeyev instead. It was a thing of beauty, the kind of designed play hockey schools will be studying. It was also a clear reminder to Minnesota to stay out of the box at all costs. 

In the case of Vegas’ second power-play marker, a buzzer-beater empty-netter that has bettors proclaiming ‘bad beat,’ taking the penalty was the right call. Matt Boldy’s late-game tripping minor against William Karlsson was purely a judgement call rather than an undisciplined slip, deciding to sweep out Karlsson’s feet instead of letting him score what would’ve been a sure empty-netter to seal the game. Vegas still got the empty-netter a minute later on the power play to close things out, but it’ll be studied for other reasons… 

Buzzer beater brings funny betting implications.

It’s only fitting that a game in Vegas should end on a note that had many bettors in disbelief.  

When Brett Howden’s game-ending empty-net attempt crossed the goal line at the exact moment time expired, thus counting, it had some pretty major game-betting implications. The goal took Vegas’ victory margin up to two goals in a game that was less than a second away from seeing Minnesota cover at +1.5. The over/under goals total was set at 5.5, with Howden’s goal bringing the actual total to six. 

Minnesota’s stars bring major boost  

After spending much of the year without one or both of the team’s biggest stars, the Minnesota Wild entered the playoffs with Kirill Kaprizov and Joel Eriksson Ek back in the lineup in the nick of time. The way the Wild very nearly frittered away their cushion in the standings down the stretch, almost falling out of the post-season picture and only clinching the first wild-card spot in their final game, it was easy to forget just how dominant this team was for much of 2024-25. As the season neared the halfway point, Minnesota sat atop the league standings. It wasn’t until February and March that they fell out of the Central’s second, then third, place. 

 But after surviving a long stretch without their top offensive forces, the Wild iced a full squad against Vegas — and what a difference it made. While it wasn’t enough to get Minnesota the win, it was a reminder that these teams can play a very similar game — smart playmaking, hard-hitting, driving fast to the net, with some show-stopping talent.

Kaprizov assisted on both of Minnesota’s goals Sunday night, both scored by Matt Boldy. Eriksson Ek didn’t get on the scoresheet, but he led the team in shots (four) and was king of the faceoff dot with a 66 per cent success rate and a career-high 21 faceoff wins. There was a lot to like from Minnesota’s effort, including from the new guy.

Because there’s a new star in town, too. Defenceman Zeev Buium, fresh off an NCAA run, turned pro just in time for the playoffs and became the first Wild player to debut in the post-season. The 19-year-old looked solid in his first matchup, though it’d be great to see him use his shot from the point more. His decision to pass, rather than attempt a shot through traffic late in the game, led to a takeaway (and Boldy’s tripping penalty) but his playmaking instincts are there. He’s well-positioned to be an X-factor going forward if the Wild are to make a series of this. 

Earlier on Sunday, the Carolina Hurricanes and New Jersey Devils opened their first-round series with a matinee matchup that, well, was never really close. The Hurricanes set the tone early with a goal from Jalen Chatfield just over two minutes into the game, and the home team dictated the pace from start to finish. Logan Stankoven had himself an impressive outing with a pair of second-period goals as Carolina won 4-1 and outshot New Jersey 45-24. 

Stankoven a perfect fit in Carolina

As messy as the Hurricanes’ handling of the Mikko Rantanen trade-gone-wrong was, they came out looking pretty good thanks to the acquisition of Logan Stankoven as part of the return from Dallas. Stankoven has been a flawless fit in Raleigh right from the start — you can see why the Hurricanes’ front office centred the transaction around the 22-year-old. Through 19 regular season games with the Hurricanes down the stretch, he had five goals and nine points. He was the leader on the scoresheet Sunday against the Devils, scoring twice in the second period to lead the Hurricanes to victory. 

Considering how dominant Carolina’s offence was in this one, peppering Jacob Markstrom with 21 more shots than the Devils could muster against Hurricanes starter Frederik Andersen, we might be looking at a short series. 

Devils’ bad injury luck gets worse

Health has been the biggest storyline for the Devils down the stretch, and while we know top forward Jack Hughes’ season is over, the return of top defenceman Dougie Hamilton brought a glimmer of hope to a team that could use some good news on the injury report. Hamilton missed the final 18 games of the regular season before being cleared to go for Game 1, and put in nearly 21 minutes of work. 

Unfortunately, more bad news on the injury report could be on the way, thanks to a strange series of events in the third period that saw defenceman Luke Hughes and forward Cody Glass go down. Hughes left the ice favouring his left shoulder after tumbling hard into the Devils’ net. Seconds later, Glass was on the receiving end of a hard slash by Jacob Markstrom, who was taking aim at Hurricanes forward Andrei Svechnikov but instead hacked his own guy by mistake. Glass went down immediately and left the game, and while Hughes returned a few minutes later Glass did not.