Wild Warmup: Minnesota vs. Vegas, Game 4

The essentials

The Wild Warmup is presented by Bryant Heating and Cooling
ST. PAUL -- For the Wild, Saturday night's Game 4 against the Vegas Golden Knights isn't a must-win game, but it's pretty darn close.
Dating back to World War II, teams have come back from a 3-1 series deficit to advance just 20 times, including the 2003 Wild, who did it twice in the same postseason - the only club in NHL history to accomplish that feat.
A loss at Xcel Energy Center on Saturday night would put this season's edition of the Wild in a 3-1 hole with the series shifting back to Las Vegas on Monday night.
But Minnesota is hoping to avoid that situation.
A win on Saturday would even the series and make it a virtual best-of-3 next week, with the first to two victories advancing to the Second Round.
And if the trends are any indication, the Wild has a good chance to do just that.
Minnesota entered the postseason as one of just three teams in the NHL to have avoided a three-game losing streak this season, a fate that continued when Minnesota won Game 1 in overtime.
But after losses in Games 2 and 3, the Wild must find a way to avoid that streak yet again, or it will face elimination in Sin City on Monday.
"We've been a resilient group all year, whether we are down a goal or two in the third period or lose a couple of games, we always come back with our best the next game," said Wild goaltender Cam Talbot. "We're one of the few teams who didn't lose three in a row this year and we need to build on that now. We've been an extremely good team at rebounding this year. We have a lot of character in that room and we're extremely resilient so I know we can put out a 60 minutes on Saturday that emulates the first period [on Thursday]."
The first period on Thursday was Minnesota's most fruitful of the series so far, as the Wild scored twice and had a third goal wiped off the board because the club entered the offensive zone offside more than 10 seconds before the goal was scored.
That would have given Minnesota a three-goal lead. Instead, the Wild took a 2-0 lead into intermission, then saw Vegas put together perhaps its best 10-minute stretch of hockey in the second half of the second period, tallying 14 of the last 15 shots on goal in the period and scoring three times to take the lead.
The Knights would continue that dominance in the third, never really allowing the Wild a sniff of tying the game, but adding two more late goals to put the game out of reach.
It's an experience the Wild planned to learn from on Saturday, a scheduled off day for a team that looked a little worn down late in the game.

"There's nothing we can do about [Thursday] night," said Wild coach Dean Evason. "We can correct the mistakes, that we made, we can obviously limit our penalties that took us out of rhythm and out of the hockey game. A quick learning experience. We put ourselves in a spot that we didn't like, but we have an opportunity to rectify it [on Saturday]."
The Wild will go about Game 4 without forward Marcus Johansson, who sustained a broken arm in the first period of Game 3. He's out indefinitely and won't be available for a return for at least a couple of playoff rounds if the Wild advance that far.
That could mean a return to the lineup for Zach Parise, who has yet to play in this series, but is the Wild's all-time leader with 77 career playoff points. He's also first in franchise playoff history in goals, power-play goals and assists and is second in shots on goal.
Parise has 14 goals and 34 points in 41 playoff games in a Wild uniform, but has 35 goals and 77 points in 101 postseason contests if you include his time with the New Jersey Devils.
Evason didn't rule Parise - or anyone else for that matter - in or out of the lineup for Game 4, saying only that a decision on a replacement for Johansson - and perhaps another player or two - could some Saturday morning.
Other potential candidates to join the lineup for Game 4 could be taxi squad members Kyle Rau or Luke Johnson, or even freshly recalled Black Ace Matt Boldy.
Rau has one game of postseason experience, while Johnson and Boldy would be making their NHL playoff debuts if they scratch in.
Vegas has been without leading goal scorer Max Pacioretty all series long, and while he's officially been labeled a game-time decision in every game by Knights coach Pete DeBoer, Pacioretty seems unlikely to play and could be a question mark for as long as this series goes.
Tomas Nosek also missed Game 3 and is questionable for Saturday's game.