Cam Talbot helps Wild take ‘first step in very long process’ by forcing Game 6

LAS VEGAS – Taking a page from Monty Python’s Holy Grail, the Wild are Not Dead Yet!

Oftentimes in hockey, the term “steal” is overused, but the latest odds at the BetMGM King of Sportsbooks have it at 2-1 that the Wild’s charter flight home will be surrounded on the tarmac by Las Vegas Metro PD and Cam Talbot placed in handcuffs.

In a game where the Wild were outshot 40-14 for the fewest shots they’ve had in their playoff history, their goaltender deserved a celebratory beer, cold tub and naturally the fiery-red Hero of the Game hydration bucket for the umpteenth time this season during a 38-save extravaganza and 4-2 victory to force a Game 6 Wednesday night at 8 p.m. in St. Paul.

With the Colorado Avalanche patiently awaiting the winner of this series, the Wild had to put some doubt into the collective mind of a team that tied the Avs for the most points in the NHL.

The last two times the Golden Knights have held a 3-1 series lead?

Last summer, the Vancouver Canucks rallied from 3-1 down to force a Game 7 before Vegas survived and advanced. But in 2019, the Golden Knights were the last NHL team and 29th since 1942 to cough up a 3-1 series lead — that time to the San Jose Sharks.

And, sure, while the cast of characters is completely different, Minnesota pulled off the feat twice in 2003 by rallying from consecutive 3-1 series deficits against Colorado and Vancouver.

“We’re not going to start dreaming about winning the series until we get it done,” two-time Stanley Cup-winning defenseman Ian Cole said. “But this was a great first step in that process. Coming here to a tough barn to win in and they came out hard and we were able to handle it and turn the tides a bit as the game went and able to survive.

“It’s the first step in a very long process, very long journey to getting this done. We just have to keep going. We can’t rest on our laurels. The series isn’t over. We’ve got to win Game 6.”

CAMERON THOMAS TALBOT pic.twitter.com/s8pkxrbSqZ

— Hockey Wilderness (@hockeywildernes) May 25, 2021

Marc-Andre Fleury entered the game having given up four goals in four games, but the Wild beat him three times in the first period on the first goal of the series by three players – Kirill Kaprizov, Zach Parise and Jordan Greenway.

It then became the Talbot show.

Naturally, Talbot credited the players in front of him. They blocked 21 shots, saved a couple of goals at the goal line (most notably Marcus Foligno in the second) and battled valiantly.

“We got hemmed in our zone quite a bit there in the second period,” said Talbot, who ranks fourth in the NHL in saves and shots against. “Give our guys credit. They were dog-tired out there. Some guys were out there for two, three icings in a row and couldn’t get off. But we never quit. We were doing everything we could, putting everything we could in front of the puck and it was a grind, but those are the kind of games you have to win on the road in a hostile environment like this, and we were able to do that tonight.”

It took the Wild a wee bit longer than they wanted to get going.

In the must-win game, the Wild’s first registered shot didn’t come until 9 minutes, 6 seconds on Kaprizov’s first career playoff goal. Mats Zuccarello wheeled up the ice, into the offensive zone and found Kaprizov, who let her rip for a much-needed, confidence-building goal after being held to one assist in the first four games.

First career #StanleyCup Playoff goal for Kirill Kaprizov ✅

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🇨🇦: https://t.co/Bwoe9sPitN @Sportsnet pic.twitter.com/AzONs9wRxC

— NHL (@NHL) May 25, 2021

But it wasn’t like the team came out flat. The Golden Knights just packed the middle and blocked everything that came Fleury’s way.

Remember, the Golden Knights and Wild were 1-2 in the NHL in blocked shots during the regular season, and that trend has continued all series.

Kaprizov’s tying goal 52 seconds after Mark Stone gave Vegas a 1-0 lead burst the dam for the Wild and was the answer the team desperately needed.

Parise, less than three minutes later, made it 2-1 in typical Parise fashion by banking a rebound off Fleury and in. You can tell by his celebration how much that goal meant to him after being scratched in the first three games of the series and playing on the fourth line in Game 4. On this night, he was elevated into the top nine with Ryan Hartman and Kevin Fiala.

The classic Zach Parise goal! Banks it in past Fluery, no one works harder in front of the net, that had to feel good, 2-1 #mnwild lead #VegasBorn pic.twitter.com/SaWDf8l3B9

— Alex Micheletti (@AlexMicheletti) May 25, 2021

“There was a lot of emotion behind that one,” Parise said with a sly grin. “I was pretty happy to see that one go in and give us a lead at the time.”

Later in the period, Greenway scored his first goal of the series by following up his own shot. Calen Addison, the Wild’s top blue line prospect who was making his Stanley Cup playoff debut after playing three games earlier this season, picked up his first NHL point.

Give and go between Greenway and Addison in the defensive zone, then Greenway goes all the way to the goal and cleans up his own rebound. 3-1. pic.twitter.com/s3VisBmR4I

— Giles Ferrell (@gilesferrell) May 25, 2021

The second period is often a period of horrors for the Wild, but this one was as ugly as they’ve ever had.

They were outshot 22-1, and the scoring chances seemed just as lopsided. Turnovers, lost assignments, dimwitted icings, careless penalties by Jonas Brodin and Matt Dumba, and the result was the Wild being pinned in their own end for basically 20 minutes that had to feel like 40.

Let’s put it this way: When Nick Bonino took a 33-foot wrist shot at 12:51 of the period to awaken Fleury from his siesta, many in the crowd of more than 12,000 fans mock-cheered the visiting club.

“We’d like to spend a lot more time in the O-zone, but at the end of the day, this time of year when you come out with the win, doesn’t matter how you do it,” Parise said.

The reason was Talbot, who somehow only gave up one goal – an Alec Martinez one-timer off Brodin’s skate to cut the deficit to 3-2 – in the second.

“He’s been fantastic for us, not just today but all series and all season,” Cole said of Talbot. “So it’s just more of the same from him. It’s kind of like his baseline now. We liked the first period. He was able to save us there in the second and I thought we did a pretty decent job locking it down in the third.”

The shots in the third were only 11-6 in favor of Vegas, but Talbot made a couple of huge stops down the stretch. Finally, a big Dumba block led to Nico Sturm’s banked 137-foot empty-net goal. It’s the first time since 2016 that the Wild have won two games in a playoff series.

The victory came after an interesting morning skate where the Wild were loose, loud and you’d never know their season was in danger of ending. Coach Dean Evason created a 200-foot game of shinny that had the guys howling and energetic. The morning skate came after a productive pre-skate meeting where apparently a lot of the leaders stood up and addressed the team.

“The theme all along the last couple of days has been, ‘Win a game,’” Parise said. “Just win a period, win a shift, win a game, and go from there. If you look at, ‘Hey, we’ve got to win three in a row against Vegas,’ that seems like a pretty tough task.

“Our mentality was just, ‘Let’s go down there and give it a great effort and bring the series back to Minnesota.’ That was the first step for us. Now we get ourselves ready for the next one.”

That leadership trickled into the second intermission when the shellshocked team tried to make itself up for a needed, big third period.

“We had our chat ready (as coaches) and the door was opening and closing and guys were coming in and out of the coaches room and we could hear them saying exactly what we were going to say,” Evason said. “We went in there and just said, ‘We just heard what you guys said and you said all the right things and all the things that we have to do.’

“We had a couple of tweaks systematically that maybe we could make. But they correct themselves. We’ve talked about this a lot all year. When you can give the room to the group and the team and the leaders, it’s a good feeling for us as a coaching staff.”

Addison makes his playoff debut

Addison, the man with the caterpillar mustache and Danny McBride haircut from “Eastbound & Down,” entered the lineup instead of Brad Hunt to add some mobility, offense and to allow Cole to get to his natural left D spot because of an injury to normal third-pair defenseman Carson Soucy.

Soucy was hurt late in Game 4 and was visibly struggling as he went down the tunnel after the game. Soucy has an upper-body injury, but Evason wasn’t sure how long he’d be out.

Evason felt Addison didn’t look out of place.

Addison played three games during the regular season and scored six goals and 22 points in 31 games for AHL Iowa. He led AHL rookie defensemen in shots, ranked second in scoring, third in assists, tied for third in goals and tied for seventh in plus-minus.

“A ton of poise for his first playoff game coming into a very loud, tough building to play in against a team that’s really, really good,” Cole said. “Creative puck plays. We talked about communication and I was going back for pucks and he was giving me great calls and helping out quite a bit. It’s tough for a young guy to do that. You need to not only be willing to communicate, but you have to make the right reads to communicate, too, and communicate good information. And I think he did a fantastic job. Smart player, obviously skillful. So it’ll probably be a first playoff game and a first playoff point of many for him. He’s going to be a great player.”

The Athletic’s 3 stars

⭐️ Cam Talbot, Wild: Improved to 12-3 when he gives up two goals or fewer in a playoff game and made 38 saves, 21 of which came in the second period

⭐️⭐️ Alex Tuch, Golden Knights: Scoreless for a change but had two shots and nine attempted.

⭐️⭐️⭐️ Zach Parise, Wild: Scratched in the first three games of the series, Parise scored a big goal less than three minutes after Kaprizov scored to give Minnesota a 2-1 lead

Turning point

📉 Down 1-0 in the first period, Kaprizov answered 52 seconds after Stone’s early tally for the first of three straight goals by the Wild to take a 3-1 lead into the second period.

By the numbers

1: Assist for Calen Addison, the first Wild player to record his first career NHL point in his playoff debut

3: First-period goals by the Wild, a playoff team record (60 first-period goals in regular season ranked second in the NHL)

22-1: Shot deficit by the Wild in the second period (one goal)

15: Career playoff goals for Parise, first in Wild history (first since April 17)

They said it

💬 “You have to get to the net, you have to get to the crease, you have to get to the rebounds. The pretty goals are not there a lot. Especially against these guys. They play really well defensively. You’ve got to get to the net with a goalie like him and get in his eyes and get ugly ones.” — Zach Parise on getting to Marc-Andre Fleury.

(Photo: Ethan Miller / Getty Images)