Mats Zuccarello Key for Wild in Elimination Game

The Minnesota Wild are staring down elimination. Entering Game 6 against the Vegas Golden Knights, the Wild are one loss from their season ending.

Facing a must-win game, the Wild need a huge performance from veteran winger Mats Zuccarello. Through the first five games, Minnesota's top forwards have led the way. Kirill Kaprizov has five goals and nine points in the series, and Matt Boldy has five goals and seven points.

After that, the offense runs a bit dry. The next leading goal scorer in the series is rugged winger Marcus Foligno, who has three goals. He's not there to provide that offensive spark, however. Which is where Zuccarello comes in.

Through five games in the series, he has one goal and two assists. Averaging over 18 minutes of ice time, he's logging consistent second-line minutes, but their production as a unit has stagnated. According to MoneyPuck's game data, the line consisting of Zuccarello, Ryan Hartman, and Marcus Johansson hold an expected goals percentage of 33.3% over 14 minutes of even-strength ice time. The best combination involving Zuccy has been the trio of him, Foligno, and Hartman. Playing just under 15 minutes of even-strength ice time together, they managed an expected goals percentage of 47.4%.

It may seem counterintuitive, but a key to getting Zuccarello going at 5-on-5 is to get him going on the power play first. During the regular season, he scored 19 goals and added 35 assists. Three of those goals and 13 assists, 16 total points, came during the man advantage. So far against the Golden Knights, he's been held pointless on the power play. If the Wild can convert with Zuccarello moving the puck, it can give him the kickstart he needs to start playmaking at 5-on-5.

The Golden Knights are in control, and the Wild are backed into a corner. To continue this series, the Wild need a hell of a game from Zuccarello and company.