Cooley initiated the scoring with a short-handed goal at 13:23 of the first period, slipping the puck between Wallstedt’s legs following a pass from McBain, securing a 1-0 advantage for the Mammoth.
Keller extended the lead to 2-0 at 4:26 of the second period, scoring from the slot after Schmaltz successfully battled for the puck along the boards.
“I think we’re obviously a really fast team and can make a lot of plays, but I think that’s the biggest thing for us is sticking to our identity as much as we can,” Keller remarked. “It’s hard to do, and I think we’ve got better as the year’s gone on, and the good teams are the most consistent. Even when you don’t feel your best, you find a way. I think we’re showing steps in the right direction, and we’ve got to be more consistent.”
Crouse furthered the lead to 3-0 at 7:49, executing a forehand-backhand move in the slot off a centering pass from Keller.
“We felt that we were playing toward our identity, and we talked a lot about that the last couple days,” Crouse stated. “It was just a great answer from our group to go out there and play the way that we did for a full 60 minutes.”
Dylan Guenther appeared to score, making it 4-0 at 12:46, but Minnesota challenged for offside, and the goal was overturned after video review.
Kaprizov then capitalized on a power-play opportunity at 14:03, narrowing the deficit to 3-1 by tapping in Boldy’s pass at the right post from the opposite side.
“They’re a great hockey team. They skate really well, they’re really skilled,” acknowledged Wild defenseman Brock Faber. “Obviously, we’ve got to find a way to play them better, right? I mean, tonight we didn’t have our best, and you can talk about the back-to-back all you want, but we just weren’t good enough.”