Minnesota leads the best-of-7 series 2-1. Game 4 will be here on Saturday (4 p.m. ET; FDSNNO, SCRIPPS, MAX, truTV, TBS, SNP, SNW, SN1, TVAS).
Marco Rossi and Matt Boldy each had a goal and an assist for the Wild, who are the first wild card from the Western Conference. Filip Gustavsson made 30 saves.
Alex Pietrangelo and Reilly Smith scored for the Golden Knights, who are the No. 1 seed from the Pacific Division. Adin Hill allowed four goals on 21 shots before being replaced by Akira Schmid, who made nine saves in the third period.
Kaprizov gave Minnesota a 1-0 lead on the power play at 3:13 of the first period. He skated the puck around the net, all the way up the right side and into the top of the slot, where he scored blocker side with a quick wrist shot through a screen. Defenseman Zeev Buium had the primary assist on the play for his first NHL point.
Rossi made it 2-0 at 6:51. Hill stopped a dump-in behind the net, but his clear up the boards was blocked by Justin Brazeau. Yakov Trenin then got the puck and fed a cutting Rossi in the low slot for his first career playoff goal.
Pietrangelo got Vegas to within 2-1 at 10:48 with a slap shot from above the right circle.
Boldy increased the lead 3-1 at 11:05 of the second period. He chased down Noah Hanifin, stole the puck from the defenseman behind Vegas’ net, and skated out into the bottom of the right circle before turning and scoring short side on Hill.
Kaprizov made it 4-1 with a power-play goal with two seconds remaining in the period. He got inside position on Hanifin at the left post and deflected in Ryan Hartman’s shot from the right boards.
Kaprizov (four goals, three assists) and Boldy (four goals, two assists) have each recorded a multipoint performance in each game of the series.
Smith cut the deficit to 4-2 at 11:34 of the third period, finishing a feed from William Karlsson on a 2-on-1 short-handed rush.
Gustavsson preserved the two-goal lead by making a glove save on Jack Eichel on a power play at 14:31.
Marcus Foligno scored into an empty net during a 6-on-4 short-handed situation at 18:27.
