3 Keys: Wild at Golden Knights, Game 1 of first round

No. 3 Wild at No. 2 Golden Knights
3 p.m. ET; NBC, SN, TVAS

Max Pacioretty is out for the Vegas Golden Knights when they play the Minnesota Wild in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup First Round at T-Mobile Arena on Sunday.
Pacioretty, a forward, did not practice Saturday and was replaced on the Golden Knights' top line by Tomas Nosek.
Goalie Marc-Andre Fleury will start for the Golden Knights. Fleury and Robin Lehner shared the Jennings Trophy when the Golden Knights allowed the fewest goals against (124) in the regular season.
"I'm not going to tip my hand, and to be honest with you, I'm not even sure I know," Vegas coach Peter DeBoer said. "But I know … I'm not going to hesitate to use that strength."
Vegas and Minnesota are meeting in the playoffs for the first time. The Wild were 5-1-2 against the Golden Knights during the regular season. Vegas had the same number of points (82) as the Colorado Avalanche, who won the Presidents' Trophy as the top regular-season team in the NHL. The Golden Knights were second to the Avalanche in the Honda West Division and the NHL standings because of the regulation-wins tiebreaker (35-30).
Teams that win Game 1 are 490-222 (68.8 percent) winning a best-of-7 NHL playoff series, including 7-1 in the first round last season.
Here are 3 keys for Game 1:

1. Vegas' health

Pacioretty led the Golden Knights with 24 goals and missed the final six games with an undisclosed injury. Martinez led them in blocked shots (168) and was second in average ice time (22:34). He missed the final two games but is in the lineup for Game 1.
Nosek and forward Ryan Reaves were each a game-time decision but will play. Reaves led Vegas in hits (141) and missed the final 16 games because of an undisclosed injury.
"I think we're adding a little bit more physicality back in our lineup, getting some guys back for Game 1, which is exciting," captain Mark Stone said.

2. The rush

The Golden Knights are one of the best rush teams in the NHL. Forward Reilly Smith said they must play to their strengths, though they must find other ways to generate offense after scoring 12 goals over their final eight playoff games last season (2-6).
"Usually, it's harder to score in the playoffs, but just jamming pucks in front of the net over and over again isn't always the answer," Smith said. "… I think we can capitalize on more rush chances and really try to utilize that as a bigger factor in the series."
Wild forward Nick Bjugstad said they will be ready.
"I mean, we know how they play," Bjugstad said. "We know what they've got. There's no question that they're a skilled and talented team. They like to move up the ice, and we've got to find ways to slow them down. I think we've got some guys that can skate too, so I think it'll be some good back and forth."

3. The net front

The Wild excel at pouncing on rebounds offensively and boxing out defensively. Golden Knights defenseman Alex Pietrangelo said they had a "good conversation" about it and spent time at practice Saturday boxing out and tying up sticks.
"They have big guys up front, big, heavy guys that are going to get to the front of the net," Pietrangelo said. "They're predictable in terms of getting there. They want to get there; they're going to put the puck there. So, for us, it's expecting that. It's expecting that they're going to put pucks in the crease."

Wild projected lineup

Jordan Greenway -- Joel Eriksson Ek -- Marcus Foligno
Kirill Kaprizov -- Ryan Hartman -- Mats Zuccarello
Kevin Fiala -- Victor Rask -- Marcus Johansson
Nick Bonino -- Nico Sturm -- Nick Bjugstad
Ryan Suter -- Jared Spurgeon
Jonas Brodin -- Matt Dumba
Carson Soucy -- Ian Cole
Cam Talbot
Kaapo Kahkonen
Scratched: Zach Parise, Brad Hunt
Injured: None

Golden Knights projected lineup

Tomas Nosek -- Chandler Stephenson -- Mark Stone
Jonathan Marchessault -- William Karlsson -- Reilly Smith
Mattias Janmark -- Nicolas Roy -- Alex Tuch
William Carrier -- Keegan Kolesar -- Ryan Reaves
Alec Martinez -- Alex Pietrangelo
Brayden McNabb -- Shea Theodore
Nicolas Hague -- Zach Whitecloud
Marc-Andre Fleury
Robin Lehner
Scratched: Patrick Brown, Dylan Coghlan, Nick Holden
Injured: Max Pacioretty (undisclosed)

Status report

Parise, a forward, will be a healthy scratch. He is the Wild's playoff leading scorer with 34 points (14 goals, 20 assists) in 40 games; he has 77 points (35 goals, 42 assists) in 101 playoff games with the Wild and New Jersey Devils. The 36-year-old scored 18 points (seven goals, 11 assists) in 45 games and was a healthy scratch in four of the last five games of the regular season.