Kevin Fiala had a goal and an assist and Cam Talbot made 23 saves for his sixth career playoff shutout as the Minnesota Wild forced a Game 7 in their West Division first-round playoff series with a 3-0 victory over the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday night in St. Paul, Minn.
Ryan Hartman and Nick Bjugstad also scored goals and Jared Spurgeon added two assists for Minnesota, which has rallied from a 3-1 deficit in the best-of-seven series with its second straight victory. Game 7 is Friday night in Las Vegas with the winner facing No. 1 seed Colorado in the second round.
Marc-Andre Fleury finished with 21 saves for the Golden Knights.
Vegas, which finished with 40 shots on goal, including 21 in the second period, in a 4-2 loss on Monday, managed just 13 total shots over the first two tight-checking periods which ended tied, 0-0.
Hartman gave Minnesota a 1-0 lead at the 4:21 mark of the third period, taking a crossing pass from Fiala at the end of an odd-man rush and then firing a wrist shot over a sliding Fleury from the bottom of the right circle for his second goal of the series.
Vegas appeared to tie it midway through the period when Chandler Stephenson fired a shot from the right point that beat Talbot on his stick side. But the goal was quickly disallowed for goaltender interference as Alex Tuch was ruled to have hit Talbot in the blue paint.
The Golden Knights unsuccessfully challenged the call and were assessed a delay of game penalty. Fiala then made it 2-0 with a power-play goal at 9:35, his first goal of the series, on a wrist shot from the top of left circle past a screen by Joel Eriksson Ek and through Fleury’s pads.
Bjugstad then made it 3-0 with his first goal of the playoffs, taking a pass from Nico Sturm breaking down the slot and beating Fleury with a backhand shot on his blocker shot to seal the win with 4:43 remaining.
–Field Level Media