Wild fall to Golden Knights in Game 6, suffer eighth consecutive first-round exit

For as hard as the Wild battled, and as well as they played for stretches of their first-round series against the Vegas Golden Knights, the end result was an all-too-familiar one. Minnesota fell 3-2 in Game 6 at Xcel Energy Center on Thursday night, sealing its eighth consecutive first-round exit from the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The Wild held a 2-1 lead in the series, but after three straight one-goal losses, their season ends in heartbreak once again. They fell in overtime in Games 4 and 5, then couldn't find an equalizer in front of a raucous home crowd in Game 6. So despite outstanding production from players like Kirill Kaprizov, Matt Boldy, and Ryan Hartman, the Wild's dreams of vanquishing their first-round demons will have to wait at least another year.

Hartman scored both goals on Thursday for the Wild, who out-shot the Golden Knights 31 to 23. But Mark Stone's insurance goal late in the third period made the difference in a game that Minnesota never led.

The Knights got off to a quick start, opening the scoring on a power-play goal from Shea Theodore less than four minutes into the game. It was a four-minute man advantage created by a high-sticking penalty on Marco Rossi.

After a couple chances later in the opening period, including a Brock Faber shot off the post, Hartman scored on a fluttering shot past Vegas goalie Adin Hill with four seconds left before intermission. Marcus Foligno made a great individual play to set up the goal.

Vegas took the lead back in the second period on a Jack Eichel breakaway goal, which was set up by a chipped pass from Stone. Faber got caught on a pinch and Kaprizov came up empty on a diving attempt to break up the pass, which left Eichel all alone with Filip Gustavsson.

The Wild had their share of chances in the third period from players like Boldy, Hartman, and Joel Eriksson Ek. They admirably killed a Kaprizov tripping penalty and appeared to get a huge stop from Boldy with the net open, but then Stone batted a puck out of midair to make it a 3-1 game.

Hartman answered just 30 seconds later, giving the Wild some life, but they couldn't find a third goal. Now they head into the offseason once again searching for answers on how to make it past this first-round roadblock.