Wild must keep weathering Vegas shot storms to keep hopes alive

The Wild has struggled to get the puck into the offensive zone. Then it has trouble getting shots past Vegas goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury.

Vegas' best players, such as Mark Stone and Alex Tuch, have given the Wild fits while the Wild's leading scorers, Kirill Kaprizov and Kevin Fiala, have only one goal between them.

There are a few areas of concern as the Wild trail the Golden Knights 3-2 in this first-round playoff series. Coach Dean Evason and his assistants were crafting some adjustments before the team flew back from Las Vegas on Tuesday morning.

Let's focus, however, on what has allowed the Wild to stick around in this series: Surge protection.

When Vegas has gotten on a roll, extended the neutral zone and pinned the Wild in front of its goalie, Cam Talbot, the Wild has withstood the onslaught.

You've watched some lopsided stretches of games during the series and have shaken your head at times at the disparity in shots. Take a deep breath and follow this rundown:

In the first period of Game 1, Vegas outshot the Wild 19-5. The Wild fought to keep the game scoreless before winning in overtime on Joel Eriksson Ek's goal.

On Monday, in a win-or-go-golfing game, the Wild shoved three goals past Fleury in the first period. The tables turned in the second period, with the Wild struggling with long changes and the Golden Knights dominating play. The result was a ridiculous 22-1 advantage in shots for Vegas.

But the surge protectors limited the damage to an Alec Martinez goal during that stretch that got Vegas within 3-2. The Wild added an empty-net goal in the third period to win 4-2 and put it one more victory from a Game 7 showdown.

"Fortunately, we didn't give up the lead," Wild defenseman Ian Cole said. "We've done that in the past."

This is not a validation of this dangerous-but-sometimes-unavoidable approach. But the Wild has dug in when it needed to with a collective effort to block shots, make strong saves and clear the puck from risky areas. It's a good trait to have, especially in the postseason, when goals can come at a premium.

It starts with Talbot, who has a .928 save percentage in the postseason but has faced 166 shots, fourth most in the postseason. He made 38 saves on Monday.

His teammates are like-minded. Matt Dumba's chest probably still stings from the puck he blocked in Game 1. On Monday, Wild players erupted when Nick Bjugstad dropped to the ice to stop a shot during a key defensive stand.

"It's so uplifting on the bench when you see someone so committed like that or the group committed like that," Evason said. "The guys get so excited for that and obviously everyone is paying the price at this time of year, but when those type of things happen, it can give you a real lift and a real boost and it is so contagious."

There aren't many beautiful goals in the postseason. Some puck luck is needed. No one shaves. And you might need a police report to get officials to call penalties. It makes the Stanley Cup playoffs like no other postseason.

And teams are going to surge, sometimes for an entire period. The Wild has proved it has the talent as well as the mentality to survive those moments. And it has to prove it one more time if it wants to earn another business trip to Vegas.