Wild force Game 6 back home

On The Strip, Cam Talbot made 38 saves  and backstopped the Minnesota Wild to a 4-2 win over the Golden Knights on Monday night.

The Game 5 win pushes the series back to St Paul with Vegas now holding a 3-2 lead.

“The guys believed,” Minnesota head coach Dean Evason said. “The looks we were getting, the goals we scored tonight, that’s what we’ve talked about. We just have to believe in that. The guys did persevere, and it’s something that’s inside them. It’s a standard they have set for themselves that they don’t panic, and we didn’t do that tonight.”

Game 6 is set for Wednesday night.

Mark Stone and Alec Martinez were the Vegas rollers in the loss, the Knights trailed the entire game.

“I thought we played a pretty solid game,” Stone said. “We had lots of chances and could’ve easily tied that game up, or could’ve easily been ahead. … If we capitalize on a few chances, I think we’re sitting here with a different outcome.”

Kirill Kaprizov potted his first Stanley Cup Playoff goal for the Wild.

“We can’t be down 3-1 after the first period,” Stone said. “It finally cost us. We’ve been down a couple games and been able to claw our way back, but today just couldn’t get it done.”

Zach Parise and Jordan Greenway  also scored for the Wild.

“There’s a lot of emotion behind that one,” Parise said. “I was happy to see that one go in and give us a lead at the time. It just felt good at that time.”

Nico Sturm added an empty-netter to ice the win.

“Guys are committed. They’re committed to each other,” Evason said. “The vibe that they had and the feeling they had towards each other, we knew we were going to have the effort we had. Definitely proud of the group with that.”

Marc-Andre Fleury made 10 saves in the loss.

“I think if you replay that game nine times out of 10, you probably win. We didn’t tonight,” Vegas head coach Peter DeBoer said. “I think if anybody had said at the start of the series we’re going to give you an opportunity to go into Minnesota in Game 6 and win the series, and Game 7’s going to be at home, we would have taken that.

“We’ve worked to put ourselves in a good spot. We had an opportunity tonight. We worked hard, didn’t get it done. We’ll regroup and look to get it done in Game 6.”