"It'll taper off. It's difficult to continue that. The guys will try, both teams will try to keep doing that," said Wild coach Dean Evason. "It's difficult, clearly, but there's no question that both groups thought that physicality would be there and it has been. It's been hard, it hasn't been cheap, which is great. Everybody is finishing their checks, and that's the right thing to do this time of year and it'll continue."
While players have been generous in dishing out hits and blocking shots in this series, goals have been much harder to come by.
Eriksson Ek's winner 3:30 into overtime was the lone goal scored in Game 1. On Tuesday, it looked like it might be another one-goal game until the 12:07 mark of the second when Matt Dumba - who also blocked eight shots in the game - scored through a bevy of bodies in front of Marc-Andre Fleury to give the Wild the lead.
Surprisingly, it lasted just 18 seconds, as Jonathan Marchessault tied the game on the very next shift, snapping Cam Talbot's streak of 95 minutes, 45 seconds to start the series. That streak was the second-longest in Wild playoff history (Darcy Kuemper, 124:35 in 2014).
Vegas would add another goal later in the second but the contest remained tightly contested until the final minute of regulation, when the Knights scored a power-play goal to push the final margin in Game 2 to two goals.
"We don't really want moral victories, but [Tuesday], we got better," said Wild forward Nick Bonino. "We played better. Just a couple little breakdowns there and they capitalized. But for the most part, we came on the road, we split, we'll go home now and learn a little bit from the first two and get ready to go."
Despite the loss, Minnesota liked its game on Tuesday night, especially its first period, where Fleury had to make a half dozen 10-bell stops to keep the game scoreless after 20 minutes.
The physical nature and tight-scoring games are not a surprise to anyone after the clubs played seven of their eight games during the regular season to a one-goal margin.
"I think this type of hockey suits us well," said Wild defenseman Ryan Suter. "I think we're comfortable playing in those tight games, getting pucks deep and playing that low, kind of grind-it-out style."
Vegas has played the first two games without leading goal-scorer Max Pacioretty, who has been considered a game-time decision ahead of both contests.
Pacioretty has not played in a game since May 1 because of an undisclosed injury and his potential availability for Game 3 remains unclear.
The Knights also lost forward Tomas Nosek in Game 2 after he took a heavy hit from Foligno in the first period and did not return to the bench after the first intermission. Nosek missed time at the end of the regular season because of an undisclosed injury but returned for Game 1. He had eight goals and 18 points in 38 games during the regular campaign.
In starting Fleury in Game 2, Knights coach Pete DeBoer broke a season-long trend of rotating goaltenders when both Fleury and Robin Lehner have been healthy. Fleury has given no reason for DeBoer to change direction either, stopping 63 of 65 shots through two games for a .969 save percentage.
Talbot has been nearly as good through two games for Minnesota, stopping 67 of 70 shots for a .957 save percentage. His shutout in Game 1 was the fifth of his postseason career.
