Tom Callahan
May 27, 2021
The Vegas Golden Knights find themselves heading home and facing elimination in the first round of the NHL Playoffs after a 3-0 shutout loss to the Minnesota Wild in Game Six Wednesday night.
It was a terribly disappointing result for the Golden Knights in many ways, but most importantly after leading the series three games to one Vegas now finds itself facing elimination back at T-Mobile Arena on Friday night. It also saw the Golden Knights enter the third period in a scoreless tie only to give up three goals against to the Wild.
Once again goal-scoring deserted the VGK, as they failed to find the net and only registered 23 shots on goal in the game. Marc-Andre Fleury took the loss with 21 saves.
The Takeaways
- The momentum is entirely with Minnesota now. They’ve shown they can win on the road at T-Mobile Arena, they’ve shown they can hold Vegas to low or no goals, and now they’ve shown they can play a tight-checking game that is more their identity and wins doing it. Not good for the VGK.
- Once again, scoring has dried up. I can’t explain what makes this Golden Knights team so streaky when it comes to scoring, but I can tell you this isn’t news to anyone who follows this website. Missing Max Pacioretty hurts, but every team needs to overcome injuries to win the Stanley Cup.
- Here’s the thing about Minnesota: they’re doing this without major contributions from Kirill Kaprizov and Kevin Fiala, who just scored his first goal of the playoffs tonight. They are a balanced, capable team that has taken Vegas out of its own game.
- I would never want to put this pressure on a goalie in the playoffs, but it’s starting to feel like if Marc-Andre Fleury gives up a goal at all, Vegas loses. No, I do not go to Robin Lehner. This is Fleury’s team.
