MINNEAPOLIS —The Minnesota Wild thrived on home ice during the regular season, but the team's playoff debut at Xcel Energy Center was a different story.
After splitting the start of the first round in Vegas, the Wild returned to St. Paul and was playing its best hockey of the series before collapsing for a 5-2 loss on Thursday in front of 4,500 that gave the Golden Knights a 2-1 advantage in the best-of-seven.
Vegas scored three goals on 22 shots in a second-period master class on how to organize a comeback, turning a two-goal deficit into a lead it wouldn't relinquish the rest of the way. Defenseman Nick Holden assisted on the tying and go-ahead goals, with Reilly Smith completing the rally at 17 minutes, 33 seconds.
Goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, who had been almost unbeatable in the first two games, picked up just 14 saves on a franchise-low 16 shots for the Wild in a home playoff game — an offense that faded after a first period that the team dominated, just like Tuesday at Vegas.
But this time, the Wild capitalized on that pressure.
Just 2:16 into the first period, Ryan Hartman buried a seeing-eye pass from rookie Kirill Kaprizov after the Wild won an offensive-zone faceoff. The assist was Kaprizov's first career point in the playoffs, while the goal snapped a dry spell for Hartman after his previous nine shots in the series were stopped by Fleury.
At 8:30, the Wild scored again — its first two-goal lead of the series — when Marcus Foligno knocked down a Matt Dumba point shot for Joel Eriksson Ek to tuck behind Fleury for Eriksson Ek's second goal of the playoffs.
Eriksson Ek pushed another puck behind Fleury at 12:52, a finish that would have given the Wild a decisive 3-0 edge, but Vegas issued a coach's challenge and video review determined the Wild was offside on the play — erasing the goal and keeping the score 2-0.
Still, the team ended the period in control and received a standing ovation from the fans inside Xcel Energy Center as the players exited the ice at the intermission.
But the same team didn't return for the second.
Vegas outplayed the Wild the entire period, at one point going on a 14-0 run in shots. As for the Wild, it managed just five shots against Fleury.
This same shift happened in Game 2, with the Wild easing off in the middle frame to lose a one-goal cushion and eventually fall 3-1 to the Golden Knights, but the drop-off was more drastic on Thursday.
Mark Stone started Vegas' rally at 8:39, taking a Chandler Stephenson pass from the wall and wiring the puck by goaltender Cam Talbot from the slot for Stone's first tally of the series.
By 15:19, the Wild's lead was gone.
The puck caromed off the end boards and in front for Patrick Brown to backhand by Talbot, who got a piece of the puck before it fell behind him into the net.
And then the Golden Knights moved ahead 3-2 when Smith put back his own rebound at the top of the crease before William Karlsson added a fourth goal with 2:24 to go in the third for his second point of the game. Stone scored his second into an empty net with 59 seconds to go.
The Wild had a power play early in the period, but the team didn't even record a shot and went 0-for-2 with the man advantage; Vegas was 0-for-5.
Talbot totaled 35 saves, suffering only his third regulation loss of the season at Xcel Energy Center.
The Wild also ended the game shorthanded.
Winger Marcus Johansson crashed into the post in the first period as he drove to the net and didn't return to the game. The Wild juggled its lines for the rest of the night but couldn't find a combination to deliver beyond the first period.
The team's 16 shots are also tied for the fewest in a playoff game overall in franchise history, a record low that previously happened May 8, 2003 at Vancouver.
