9
That’s Wild
- The Minnesota Wild opened up their first round series against the Vegas Golden Knights with a 4-2 loss. The most ground they had was an equalizing goal to make it 1-1, but from there Vegas took over. Brett Howden scored a pair of goals and Pavel Dorofeyev delivered the killing shot, taking advantage of a wide-open net. [TSN]
- In comparison, Vegas had the luxury of building the expansion franchise that Minnesota always wanted. [Hockey Wilderness]
- Zeev Buium is just 19 years old and is fresh off a Frozen Four where he played virtually half the available minutes for his Denver squad. What should we expect from him as he makes his first venture into the NHL in the playoffs? [Hockey Wilderness]
- Wild scorers had some slick looks in Game 1, but overall lacked the playoff grease good enough to will themselves past Vegas. Now they are down a game. [StarTribune]
Off the trail…
- Ranking the top 50 players involved in the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs. [ESPN]
- There is already some drama in the Battle of Ontario. Game 1 featured some controversial officiating (of course) and Senators head coach Travis Green is calling Toronto out on it. [TheScore]
- It might have also helped that the Maple Leafs were able to put on a dominating display and score several goals past Linus Ullmark Sunday night, to lead them to a Game 1 win. [NHL.com]
- Shortly after the playoffs started, the Rangers fired coach Peter Laviolette and the Ducks fired coach Greg Cronin. Add another couple of teams on the lookout for a new bench boss. [CBS Sports]