The Vegas Golden Knights will play the Minnesota Wild in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Vegas (49-22-9) is first in the Pacific Division, 10 points ahead of Minnesota (45-30-7), which is the first wild card in the Western Conference. The Golden Knights will have home-ice advantage in the best-of-7 series.
The Golden Knights won the only previous playoff meeting against the Wild in the 2021 first round. Vegas won the best-of-7 series in seven games.
Center Jack Eichel leads the Golden Knights in scoring with 93 points (27 goals, 66 assists) in 76 games. Forward Mark Stone has 67 points (19 assists, 48 points) in 66 games, and center Tomas Hertl has 59 points (31 goals, 28 assists) in 72 games.
Vegas goalie Adin Hill has a 32-13-5 record in 50 starts with a 2.47 goals-against average and .906 save percentage. Ilya Samsonov has a 16-9-3 record in 28 starts for the Golden Knights with a 2.78 goals-against average and .892 save percentage.
The Wild were led offensively by forward Matt Boldy with 73 points (27 goals, 46 assists) in 82 games. Center Marco Rossi had 60 points (24 goals, 36 assists) in 82 games and forward Kirill Kaprizov had 56 points (25 goals, 31 assists) in 41 games.
Kaprizov returned from a lower-body injury April 9 against the San Jose Sharks and had two goals and an assist, including the game winner, in an 8-7 overtime victory. He missed 28 straight games and 40 of the previous 43 because of the injury, which required surgery.
Goalie Filip Gustavsson had a 31-19-6 record in 58 starts with a 2.57 goals-against average and .914 save percentage. Marc-Andre Fleury had a 14-9-1 record in 26 games (22 starts) with a 2.94 goals-against average and .898 save percentage in his final NHL season. The No. 1 selection by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 2003 NHL Draft is retiring at the conclusion of the playoffs after 21 seasons.
Vegas swept the season series against Minnesota, winning all three games. The Golden Knights won 3-2 at the Wild on Dec. 15, 4-1 at home on Jan. 12 and 5-1 on the road on March 25.
Eichel had five points (three goals, two assists) in two games against Minnesota, and Shea Theodore (one goal, four assists) and Stone (five assists) each had five points in three games.
Hill went 2-0-0 against Minnesota with a 1.00 goals-against average and .950 save percentage, and Samsonov went 1-0 with a 2.00 goals-against average and .909 save percentage.
Mats Zuccarello led the Wild with three points (three assists) in three games against the Golden Knights, and Kaprizov had two points (two goals) in one game against Vegas.
Gustavsson and Fleury each went 0-1-0 with an .892 save percentage while allowing four goals in their starts against the Golden Knights.
Vegas qualified for the playoffs for the third consecutive season and seventh time in eight years since joining the League as an expansion team for 2017-18. The Golden Knights won the Stanley Cup in 2023.
Minnesota qualified after missing the playoffs last season. The Wild have not advanced past the first round since making it to the Western Conference Second Round in 2015, where they were swept 4-0 in the best-of-7 series by the Chicago Blackhawks, who went on to win the Stanley Cup.
