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The Vegas Golden Knights won Game 7 against the Minnesota Wild on Friday night to advance to the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Vegas will meet the Colorado Avalanche in a clash of titans. The Avalanche and Golden Knights tied for the most points (82) during the regular season and they will battle to see which team gets out of the West Division and qualifies for the semifinals.
Vegas got a boost in Game 7 with the return of Max Pacioretty to the lineup. He sat out the final six games of the regular season and the first six matches of the postseason with an undisclosed injury. He scored what held up as the game winner against the Wild in the second period. Pacioretty had four shots and one hit in 16:28 of ice time in his first game since May 1.
Mattias Janmark was the unlikely hero. He had three assists in six postseason matches with Vegas going into Friday’s contest. He potted three goals in Game 7 after scoring four times over 51 previous career playoff appearances. Janmark, who was acquired at the trade deadline from Chicago, had one goal and five points in 15 with the Golden Knights during the regular season.
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MINNESOTA 2 VEGAS 6 (Golden Knights win series 4-3)
The Golden Knights won Game 7 on home ice against Minnesota after squandering a 3-1 series lead.
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Mattias Janmark led the way with a hat trick. He opened the scoring 5:09 into the first period before lightning the lamp two more times in the third period, including an empty-netter to round out the scoring.
Zach Parise tied the game at 1-1 late in the first frame. He finished the series with two goals and one assist during a three-game point streak after being a healthy scratch for the first three matches.
Nicolas Hague’s first NHL playoff goal gave Vegas the lead back just 2:05 into the second stanza.
Kirill Kaprizov’s second goal of the postseason evened the score during a Wild power play two minutes and 30 seconds later.
Max Pacioretty scored what held up as the game winner at the 7:44 mark of the second period.
Zach Whitecloud also got his first goal of the Stanley Cup Playoffs prior to the second intermission.
Chandler Stephenson, Shea Theodore and Nicolas Roy registered two assists apiece. For Theodore, those were his first points of the series.
William Karlsson, Alex Tuch, Alex Pietrangelo, Nick Holden, Ryan Suter, Jared Spurgeon, Mats Zuccarello and Joel Eriksson Ek picked up one helper each.
Jordan Greenway was credited with a game-high 11 hits, while Marcus Foligno was right behind him with 10.
Jonas Brodin was injured early in the contest and he was unable to return.
Cam Talbot stopped 28 of 33 shots in the loss.
Marc-Andre Fleury blocked 18 shots in the win.