Mattias Janmark had scored just one goal since being acquired by the Vegas Golden Knights at the trade deadline from the Chicago Blackhawks, but tripled that on Friday with his first career hat-trick in what might have been the most important home playoff game in the Golden Knights’ four-year history, a 6-2 victory over the Minnesota Wild in the decider of their opening-round series.
“It’s what every player dreams of, to score in a Game 7,” Janmark said. “To win a Game 7 and to score a hat-trick, it’s hard to believe that it’s going to happen to you, but today, bounces were going in.”
“It’s a dream come true, for sure,” he said.
Photo: AFP
Nic Hague, Max Pacioretty and Zach Whitecloud also scored for Vegas, who hosted a game 7 for the first time after losing against the San Jose Sharks in 2018 and defeating the Vancouver Canucks in Edmonton, Alberta, last year.
It was also the first time that Vegas clinched a playoff series at home.
Marc-Andre Fleury, playing in his eighth career game 7, made 19 saves to earn his 85th playoff victory in front of an announced crowd of 12,156.
Fleury is three playoff wins shy of tying Billy Smith and Ed Belfour for fourth in NHL history.
“It was a ton of fun,” said Hague, the only Golden Knights skater in the lineup who had not played in a game 7. “The building was rocking, which is always awesome, but it was on another level tonight. A little nervous at the start. Boy, was that a fun game.”
Vegas, who squandered a 3-1 series lead for the third straight season, were on their way to Denver, Colorado, for today’s second-round opener against the Colorado Avalanche.
Zach Parise and Kirill Kaprizov scored for the Wild.
Cam Talbot made 29 saves.
“We hope that they’re proud of each other and proud of themselves of how they conducted themselves this year,” Minnesota coach Dean Evason said. “You get to a game 7 and one team wins and one team loses. Our effort was there. We competed our butts off.”
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