Knights poor first period dooms them in Game 2 loss to Wild

LAS VEGAS — It took eight minutes, maybe nine at the most, for the Minnesota Wild to make this a series.

For Shea Theodore, it must have felt like eight or nine years.

The Vegas Golden Knights’ usually reliable defenseman had an evening to forget Tuesday, turning the puck over, being out of position and basically forgetting how to play. He was on the ice for the first four Minnesota Wild goals in Game 2 and had a role in each tally.

Theodore’s struggles were contagious as the rest of the Knights couldn’t make a go of it and wound up dropping Game 2, 5-2, as Minnesota evened the best-of-seven series 1-1 and took home ice away from the Knights.

Game 3 is Thursday at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.

“We didn’t take care of the puck,” Knights coach Bruce Cassidy said. “We were giving their best players easy opportunities. That’s a bad formula.”

How bad was it? Cassidy paired Zach Whitecloud with Brayden McNabb, Theodore’s longtime partner on the blue line, midway through the second period. Theodore was dropped to the third pairing with Noah Hanifin. But the move actually paid off as Hanifin scored and Theodore earned a plus-1 for being on the ice for the even-strength goal as Vegas cut the deficit to 4-1.

Cassidy acknowledged Theodore’s tough evening but he said it’s up to all the players to pick up any teammate that is struggling.

“He’s trying to do too much out there; it’s that simple,” Cassidy said. “He’s a great player. Tonight wasn’t his night and it snowballed on him.”

The Knights came ready to play as they dominated from the opening faceoff and had the game’s first five shots, including a couple of stellar opportunities that Minnesota’s Filip Gustavsson was able to turn aside.

Having survived the early onslaught, the Wild took over. First it was Matt Boldy. Then Marcus Foligno. Then Mats Zuccarello to make it 3-0. Sloppy puck management in their own end along with a strong Minnesota forecheck got the script flipped and as the Knights left the ice, it was to a chorus of boos from the 18,311 at T-Mobile Arena.

Anyone who thought this was going to be a walkover series just because Minnesota was a wild card entrant was given a rude awakening. The Stanley Cup Playoffs rarely go according to Hoyle and your earn everything you get.

Yes, it’s just one game in one series. But Tuesday should have served as a reminder that if you take a period off or forget to be accountable, you’re going to suffer the consequences.

And while it’s easy to point the finger of blame at one player, in this case, Theodore, who had one of the worst performances of his career, be reminded that there are other guys in gold sweaters who are also culpable.

Jack Eichel, the team’s leading scorer in the regular season, has yet to dent the scoresheet in two playoff games. Ditto for Mark Stone, the Knights’ captain. Same for William Karlsson and Reilly Smith.

Cassidy said before the series that in the playoffs, your best players need to be your best players. So before they drop the puck to begin Game 3 Thursday, there’s a need for the top Vegas guys to perform like it.

“They’re elite, world-class players. They’ve got to get going,” Cassidy said of his stars. “The other team’s top guys are all over the sheet.

“We’ve got to help them. I think they’ve got to get through the neutral zone quicker. They’ll have to create a little more in the O-zone. But we’ll show them and see if we get get them going.”

A split or a sweep in St. Paul and the Knights can regain control of this series, get home ice back and perhaps finish things off the way many predicted they would. But for that to happen, a lot has to change by Thursday.

“Nobody cares what we did two years ago,” Cassidy said. “Nobody cares. There’s 16 teams that want the trophy. They’re hungry. Every year that’s how it starts. Our guys have to realize that. Get hungry. Get competitive. It’s not easy this time of year.

“I believe we’ll be fine. But they were hungrier than us (Tuesday). They were more competitive than us.”

Smith said: “If you want to go far in the playoffs, it’s not going to be quick and it’s not going to be easy. There’s a lot of positives we had (Tuesday) and there’s a lot of things we can do better. It’s just a mindset going into (Thursday).”