3 Keys: Wild at Golden Knights, Game 2 of first round

No. 3 Wild at No. 2 Golden Knights
10 p.m. ET; NBCSN, SN360, TVAS, ATTSN-RM, BSN, BSWI+
Minnesota leads best-of-7 series, 1-0

Max Pacioretty will be a game-time decision for the Vegas Golden Knights when they play the Minnesota Wild in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup First Round at T-Mobile Arena on Tuesday.
The forward did not play because of an undisclosed injury when Minnesota won 1-0 in overtime in Game 1 of the best-of-7 series Sunday. He also missed the final six games of the regular season, when he led Vegas with 24 goals.
Asked about his level of concern Monday, Golden Knights coach Peter DeBoer said: "Well, concerned, obviously, because he hasn't been in the lineup for the last … six games of the regular season and now he's missed the first playoff game and he's your leading scorer. So, for sure, we have concern, like anyone would. I think it's trending in the right direction. I'm not lying when I say it's day to day. I really feel like that. But we won't know until [Tuesday] whether he's in or not."
The Golden Knights are 2-7 with 12 goals scored in their past nine playoff games dating to last season while outshooting the opposition 335-202, and outshot Minnesota 42-30 in Game 1.
Vegas has trailed 1-0 in a best-of-7 series three times since joining the NHL in 2017-18: the 2018 Western Conference Final against the Winnipeg Jets, 2019 Western Conference First Round against the San Jose Sharks and 2020 Western Conference Final against the Dallas Stars. Each time, the Golden Knights won Game 2.
Teams with a 2-0 lead are 330-51 (86.6 percent) winning a best-of-7 NHL playoff series, including 4-0 in the first round last season. Teams that go up 2-0 when starting as the road team are 80-20 winning a best-of-7 playoff series.
Here are 3 keys for Game 2:

1. First period

Vegas wants the first goal after outshooting Minnesota 19-5 in the first period of Game 1 and failing to score. The theory is playing with the lead will force Minnesota to open up.
"We need a great start tonight," Golden Knights forward Jonathan Marchessault said. "I mean, we need the lead after the first period. We need to play with the lead. We need to get it. There's no secret that we've got to be ready right from the puck drop. If we do that, we should be in good position for the rest of the game."
Wild defenseman Ian Cole said: "We know what's going to happen. We're going to have to play smart hockey. We're going to have to play very structured hockey, and certainly getting pucks out of our end and getting pucks into their end as best we can. There's no easy way to do it. It's going to be hard, and we know that, and we're just going to have to play through it."

2. Support from third line

The Wild need more from forwards Kevin Fiala, Victor Rask and Marcus Johansson, a line that combined for three shots on goal in Game 1. Two of the shots were from Fiala, who scored 40 points (20 goals, 20 assists) in 50 regular-season games, second on Minnesota to Kirill Kaprizov (51 points; 27 goals, 24 assists).
"They had some good looks, don't get frustrated," Wild coach Dean Evason said. "Kevin in particular can get frustrated offensively. But I talked to him yesterday. He's doing his job. He's doing what he has to do. He's giving his team an opportunity to have success. They'll be a game where Kevin obviously will score. He scores. That's his thing."

3. Net front

Alex Tuch said when the Golden Knights generated traffic in front of Wild goalie Cam Talbot in Game 1, they didn't get pucks through, and when they got pucks through, they weren't in front of Talbot.
"He saw way too many pucks [in Game 1]," the forward said. "We made it really easy on Talbot. He had a good game, but we have to be better around those areas, and we have to try to get a lot more opportunities in those areas."

Wild projected lineup

Jordan Greenway -- Joel Eriksson Ek -- Marcus Foligno
Kirill Kaprizov -- Ryan Hartman -- Mats Zuccarello
Kevin Fiala -- Victor Rask -- Marcus Johansson
Nick Bonino -- Nico Sturm -- Nick Bjugstad
Ryan Suter -- Jared Spurgeon
Jonas Brodin -- Mathew Dumba
Carson Soucy -- Ian Cole
Cam Talbot
Kaapo Kahkonen
Scratched:Zach Parise, Brad Hunt
Injured: None

Golden Knights projected lineup

Alex Tuch -- Chandler Stephenson -- Mark Stone
Jonathan Marchessault -- William Karlsson -- Reilly Smith
Mattias Janmark -- Nicolas Roy -- Keegan Kolesar
William Carrier -- Tomas Nosek -- Ryan Reaves
Alec Martinez -- Alex Pietrangelo
Brayden McNabb -- Shea Theodore
Nicolas Hague -- Zach Whitecloud
Marc-Andre Fleury
Robin Lehner
Scratched: Patrick Brown, Dylan Coghlan, Nick Holden
Injured:Max Pacioretty (undisclosed)

Status report

No lineup changes are expected for Minnesota. … Fleury and Talbot are each expected to start for the second consecutive game.