Wild Warmup: Minnesota vs. Vegas

The essentials

ST. PAUL --Whatever the Wild did last season to slow down the Vegas Golden Knights, it will look to replicate on Saturday when Minnesota hosts the defending Western Conference champions in its home opener at Xcel Energy Center.
The Wild went 3-0-0 against Vegas last season, one of only two teams to sweep the season series with the expansion Golden Knights.
Vegas was the story of the NHL last year, riding a red-hot start to the season all the way to a Pacific Division championship and a run to the Stanley Cup Final, where it lost in five games to the Washington Capitals.
Along the way, it rarely struggled, posting a .500 or better record against 28 of the 31 NHL clubs last season.

"They're very fast and they played quick through the neutral zone," said Wild coach Bruce Boudreau. "Lines one through four were all really good, so it was really tough to match up with them. The speed of their defense and their forwards and the chip on their shoulder that got them through maybe the first 25 games when Marc-Andre] Fleury was hurt, and the rest, then they gained the confidence and realized they were a good team and took off from there."
One of the Wild's best wins of last season came against Vegas at the end of November, when it dug out of a 2-1 third-period deficit to win 4-2. The Wild led 1-0 after two periods but saw the Golden Knights score goals 1:57 apart in the first five minutes of the third to grab the lead.
But Jonas Brodin and Eric Staal tallied markers less than seven minutes apart to take the lead back before Staal's empty-net goal in the final seconds completed the comeback.
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Circumstance helped the Wild in game two of the season series, as Minnesota took advantage of a Vegas team that played in Winnipeg the night before in a 5-2 win on Feb. 2.
Powered by hometown boy Jason Zucker, the Wild also scored a 4-2 win at T-Mobile Arena on March 16.
"That was a pretty emotional game and a must-win game for us," Boudreau said.
Both teams will enter the game Saturday following opening night losses.
Minnesota lost in Colorado 4-1, a game that was in doubt until a pair of empty-net goals by the Avalanche late.
Despite an early morning arrival back in the Twin Cities, the Wild had a spirited early afternoon practice session at TRIA Rink at Treasure Island Center on Friday, hoping to get back on track.
The game Saturday marks the first of three-straight home contests for the Wild, who won't play again until next Thursday against the Chicago Blackhawks.

"The sun came up," Boudreau said. "I didn't like the way we played on Thursday], but if you start getting overly depressed after game one, I think it could make for a long year. And the players feed off of that."
The Golden Knights dropped a 5-2 decision to the Philadelphia Flyers in Las Vegas on Thursday. Jonathan Marchessault scored the first goal of the game, giving Vegas a 1-0 lead at 6:37 of the first.
But the Flyers countered with the next five goals, including two by Wayne Simmonds. Pierre-Edouard Bellemare had a third-period short-handed goal for Vegas.
"They might be a little ticked off, losing their home opener," Boudreau said. "But there's no easy team in this league. Every team is going to be difficult and we have to rise to the occasion or it's going to be a long year."
In conjunction with the home opener on Saturday, the Wild will be
[hosting HocktoberFest on West 7th Street
in St. Paul, which will run from 2 to 11 p.m.
Fans will be able to watch the Wild home opener on two Jumbotrons located at each end of the street party. The event is free and open to the public.
HocktoberFest will feature live music, food, drinks and activities for hockey fans of all ages:
Related:
- HocktoberFest street party set for Saturday - Parise's big opening night not enough for Wild