MIN VGK game 5 preview

No. 3 Wild at No. 2 Golden Knights
10:30 p.m. ET; CNBC, SN1, TVAS, ATTSN-RM, BSN+
Vegas leads best-of-7 series, 3-1

The Vegas Golden Knights can advance to the Stanley Cup Second Round with a victory in Game 5 of their best-of-7 series against the Minnesota Wild at T-Mobile Arena on Monday.
Vegas has won five Stanley Cup Playoff series since joining the NHL in 2017-18 with each clinching victory coming on the road or at a neutral site.
"There's no doubt we would love nothing more than to close them out at home in front of our home crowd," Golden Knights coach Peter DeBoer said. "But the elimination game is always the toughest and you're playing a really good hockey team. I mean, the margins in every game so far have been razor thin. It's not going to be easy."
The Golden Knights lost 1-0 in overtime at home in Game 1 but have won three in a row since by a combined score of 12-3.
"A lot of times you take the foot off the gas and there's desperation on their side," Vegas defenseman Alex Pietrangelo said. "So important for us to get a good start, make sure we get some pressure on them early, especially coming back home, using our building to our advantage."
Teams that hold a 3-1 lead are 292-29 (91.0 percent) winning a best-of-seven series, including 1-0 this season.
Here are 3 keys for Game 5:

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1. Mindset

The Wild ran a unique drill during the morning skate to keep the players loose.
"Clearly that was the purpose of it," coach Dean Evason said. "It's called 'three puck.' It's obviously just a game of shinny. Want the guys to have some fun, right? We're struggling to score goals. No sense squeezing the sticks even tighter. We like our looks that we've had. We just need to finish them off, catch a break here and there.
"We need obviously to play with desperation and we need one win at a time, and that's what we tried to stress to the group today. … When the puck's dropped, we're going to be intense and we're going to work, but there's no sense being tight here this morning."

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2. Rebounds

To keep the Wild from rebounding in the series, the Golden Knights need to keep them from rebounds in front of the Vegas net.
"I think defensively as a group, they're going to get opportunities," Pietrangelo said. "I think the important part for us is, when they do get a chance, [goalie Marc-Andre Fleury is] going to save the first one. We've got to make sure they don't get a second opportunity, and as a group collectively I think we've done a great job of that so far."

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3. Lineup changes

Vegas defenseman Brayden McNabb skated Monday after missing Game 4 with an undisclosed injury.
"McNabb has] been a key guy, especially against this team," DeBoer said. "They've got some big, heavy forwards, and he's a guy that makes people pay a price to go to those areas. The nice part is, our depth on defense has allowed us to survive him being out for a night. We'll see. We haven't made a decision yet on him for tonight. If he goes, he's a great addition for us. If he can't, we're very comfortable with the six defensemen we're going to put out there tonight because of our depth."
DeBoer said defenseman
Alec Martinez and forwards Tomas Nosek and Max Pacioretty also will be game-time decisions. Martinez has not missed a game in the series. Nosek has missed the past two. Pacioretty has been out all four.
Minnesota defenseman Carson Soucy sustained an upper-body injury in Game 4 and is out indefinitely, Evason said. Defenseman
[Calen Addison
will make his NHL postseason debut. The 21-year-old had four shots on goal and averaged 18:31 of ice time in three regular-season games.

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Wild projected lineup
Golden Knights projected lineup

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

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Status report

If McNabb can't play, Hague, a defenseman, could replace him. He was plus-2 with two hits in 18:14 of ice time in Game 4.