Wild Live Blog from Game 1 in Vegas: Golden Knights win the opener

LAS VEGAS – Read the replay of our Live Blog from Game 1 of the first-round Stanley Cup playoff series between the Wild and the Vegas Golden Knights.

Vegas won the opener 4-2 behind a pair of goals from Brett Howden. Matt Boldy scored both Wild goals.

Lots of preview reading for this game over the weekend at startribune.com, so give these stories a read during breaks in the action.

• How do the teams match up? Randy Johnson took an inside look at the key players and stats, along with some guys who must step up.
• Coach John Hynes pushed most of the right buttons this season as the injury-riddled Wild squeaked into the playoffs. The Sunday centerpiece in Sports was this Hynes feature.
• Kirill Kaprizov was on an MVP pace before his midseason injury. He's happy to be back in time.
• La Velle took a look at Freddy Gaudreau's bounce back season.
• Chip reveals that winning in the postseason is quite painful.
• Joel Eriksson Ek returned from his injury to be a hero in the regular season finales.

Game 2 of the series is here on Tuesday night (and into Wednesday morning) with a 10 p.m. Central start.

The series is back at Xcel Energy Center for Games 3 and 4 on Thursday (8 p.m.) and Saturday (3 p.m.).