Wild vs. Golden Knights score: Vegas wins Game 7 in rout to advance

The first Game 7 of the 2021 playoffs was not a close game

The Vegas Golden Knights will be moving on to the next round of the playoffs after defeating the Minnesota Wild, 5-2, in Game 7 of their opening postseason series on Friday. Mattias Janmark was the surprising hero, with the third-liner scoring his first career hat-trick, including the double-dagger in the third period, to help his team secure the win.

The difference was a dominant late second period from Vegas after the early portions of the game looked to set up a back-and-forth affair. After Kirill Karpizov tied things up at two for Minnesota, the Golden Knights came back with a goal from Max Pacioretty, who was wide open in front of net to give his team back the lead. It was poor defensive play from the Wild that was almost certainly connected to players like Ryan Suter and Joel Eriksson Ek going down briefly with injuries that required them to leave the ice for an extended period of time.

It set the tone for the remainder of the game.

Vegas was able to do whatever it pleased on the ice while Minnesota scrambled to try and keep up. There were brief moments of offensive waves from the Wild, but they only resulted in a couple shot attempts at most whenever they made their way to the offensive side of the ice. While the team would have hoped that the offensive pushes would lead to more intensity, and thus some scoring, it instead led to more intensity on the physical side of play, with a lot more stoppages bringing along a cacophony of whistles as scrums frequently broke out.

In between those fights, however, Janmark was able to score two goals in the third to complete the first hat-trick of his career. The first of the two came from a poor defensive turnover from the wild which allowed the deadline-day acquisition to shove one into the back of the net, and the second came from Janmark simply outmuscling his opponent for the puck as he raced to score an empty-netter.

The Golden Knights will now face the Colorado Avalanche, the top team in the West Division, in the second round of the playoffs. The two teams split the regular season series, with each side winning four of their eight meetings -- Vegas won one in overtime.

[May 28, 2021 at 11:42 pm ET · Gabriel Fernandez]

GOAL! Golden Knights 6, Wild 2

Who else but Janmark? He completes the hat-trick on the empty net, the first of his NHL career. The series is all but clinched now. (3:07 3rd period)

[May 28, 2021 at 11:31 pm ET · Gabriel Fernandez]

GOAL! Golden Knights 5, Wild 2

Janmark comes up big again extending the Vegas lead up to three and scoring what should be the dagger for this game and series! (7:24 3rd period)

[May 28, 2021 at 11:21 pm ET · Gabriel Fernandez]

For the first time all night, the Wild really seem to be establishing themselves in the offensive end with a couple of shot attempts that made the Golden Knights defenders scramble around to stop things from getting out of hand. Ultimately, however, it doesn't result in anything substantial. (11:10 3rd period)

[May 28, 2021 at 11:17 pm ET · Gabriel Fernandez]

Fireworks continue to fly here with tempers flaring between the two sides after an attempted shot on goal from the Wild. For Minnesota, Jordan Greenway and Joel Eriksson Ek will get minor penalties. Reilly Smith and Jonathan Marchessault will go to the sin bin for Vegas. (14:00, 3rd period)