Golden Knights take series lead after rallying past Wild

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Mark Stone carried the puck across the blue line early in the second period when he heard a whistle for offside.

The Golden Knights captain lightly shot the puck off the boards, the frustration etched on his face.

But the Knights leaned on their vast playoff experience and stayed the course despite falling behind.

Stone ignited a three-goal second period as the Knights stunned the Minnesota Wild 5-2 on Thursday night at Xcel Energy Center in Game 3 of the West Division first-round playoffs.

“In my time here, this group’s shown the ability to do that pretty consistently,” coach Pete DeBoer said. “When I look back at the last 18 months with this group, we’ve done it before, and usually it’s the same formula. It’s no panic, regroup, stick with it and it’s usually everybody contributing.”

The Knights lead the best-of-seven series 2-1 and regained home-ice advantage. Game 4 is set for Saturday.

Teams that have a 2-1 lead in a best-of-seven series have gone on to win 70 percent of the time, according to NHL public relations.

“It definitely wasn’t a good start,” Stone said. “But it’s better to be down 2-0 after 20 than when the game ends. … We got a couple big saves to keep us at two (goals down) and then we kind of took over the game.”

The Knights, who played without leading goal scorer Max Pacioretty, lost nearly every puck battle and were unable to establish a forecheck early.

But they found their legs and scored five unanswered goals to win in regulation in Minnesota for the first time in franchise history (nine games).

Stone finished with two goals, including an empty-netter, and William Karlsson and Reilly Smith each added a goal and an assist.

“I don’t think we could have played any worse in the first period,” Smith said. “I think we did a good job turning things around quickly. It started with the first couple of shifts (of the second period) and then we kept on building with it.”

Stone started the comeback when he found room in the slot and buried a feed from Chandler Stephenson at 8:29 of the second period to cut Minnesota’s lead to 2-1.

Then Nick Holden, who was playing his first game since April 9, made two key plays to help put the Knights ahead.

First, the defenseman banked a pass off the end boards and nailed the geometry perfectly as the puck bounced to the front of the net. Patrick Brown, making his first appearance since April 3, was on the spot to backhand in the tying goal with 4:41 left in the second.

“My linemates got me going early,” Brown said. “I thought we responded well. We were able to bury some opportunities that we got.”

Holden also factored into the go-ahead goal, as he jumped into the play and flipped a shot on net after digging the puck out of his skates.

Smith was planted on the doorstep and had two whacks at the loose puck before getting it past Minnesota goalie Cam Talbot for a 3-2 advantage with 2:27 to go in the period.

Karlsson added the dagger with 2:24 remaining in the third, snapping a shot past Talbot on an odd-man rush for a 4-2 advantage.

Marc-Andre Fleury started for the third straight game and finished with 14 saves, as the Wild managed nine shots on goal in the final 40 minutes.

“I thought we moved our feet better,” Fleury said. “We didn’t give them much for the rest of the game. It was a pretty strong defensive game for that second and third that our guys did.”

The Knights turned in a poor first period for the second straight game, mustering four shots on goal and 12 attempts.

Minnesota, which was playing its first home playoff game since April 17, 2018, jumped in front 2:16 into the game after an offensive-zone faceoff win.

Rookie of the year favorite Kirill Kaprizov notched his first point in the series, threading a pass through the slot to Ryan Hartman at the back door. He finally beat Fleury after missing a handful of chances in the first two games.

Joel Eriksson Ek added to the lead at 8:30, scooping up a rebound after Matt Dumba’s shot was blocked in front by Alec Martinez.

The Wild nearly went ahead 3-0 with 6:55 remaining, as Eriksson Ek deposited another long rebound. The Knights successfully challenged the play was offside entering the zone and rode the momentum change the rest of the way.

“That’s a game-changing, momentum-changing call,” DeBoer said. “That was the start of the momentum swing.”

Contact David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow @DavidSchoenLVRJ on Twitter.