Stanzel’s Sports Takeout — BREAKING NEWS: 4.23.25

Apr 23

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Maybe I’m a dinosaur and remember holding a radio close to my ear so my parents didn’t hear me listening to playoff sports, but how was Wolves Game 2 not on a radio station in the Twin Cities last night? Certainly, iHeart could have put it on KOOL. Also, lovely how the Wild started at 10:15 p.m. central to be a part of an ESPN NHL tripleheader, but the prior game wans’t over so they started on ESPN2, anyways.

Go elsewhere for NFL Draft analysis and preview, sorry!

Great coming home with the series at 1-1, just don’t give up home ice/court and lose Game 3.

Wild Blows Out VGK 5-2 to Even Series 1-1

Admit it, you spent a week complaining about the 10:15 p.m. start time, and then refused to go to bed due to the adrenaline rush.

The Wild shook off a slow first five minutes, scoring three times in the first period en route to a 5-2 win at Las Vegas to send the series back to Saint Paul tied 1-1. Game 3 is Thursday a bit after 8 p.m. at The X.

Minnesota turned the series around in a 99-second span midway through the first period. They’d been pressuring Adin Hill for several minutes, but we’ve seen this movie before, right?

Kirill Kaprizov hit Matt Boldy with one of the prettiest saucer passes you’ll ever seen, and Boldy finished it off to become the second Wild player in history to record three straight team goals in the playoffs. Kaprizov would later add two goals of is own.

Ryan Hartman, elevated in the lineup after his gritty Game 1 performance, then set up Marcus Foligno for a 2-0 lead. Not sure we’ll see Marco Rossi back on that line for awhile, if ever (trade bait this summer, like it or not).

Marcus Johansson stole the puck in the O zone and found a wide open Mats Zuccarello and it was 3-0 with 2:45 left in the first.

Lakers Take Game 2 Easily to Even Series 1-1

As mentioned in this space Monday, the Lakers were sure to come out with a much stronger effort in Game 2. That, combined with a latte’ da first half by the Wolves resulted in a 95-84Lakers win to even the series at 1-1 headed back to Game 3 in Minneapolis on Friday.

Simply put, the Wolves were outclassed in the first half. Foul trouble didn’t help. Donte DiVincenzo had three before the first quarter ended. Naz Reid had three soon after that. Luka Doncic couldn’t miss. He and LeBron James combined for four assists in Game 1; they had that in the first 12 minutes of Game 2.

Anthony Edwards briefly got untracked early in the third and it looked like the Wolves may make a game of it. Again in the fourth, the Wolves rallied to get the deficit to nine, but the hole was just too deep to make a serious run.

A lot has been made of the Wolves role players being better than the Lakers…but Minnesota’s role players stunk last night (20 bench points, zero from Conley and six from Gobert) and L.A.’s were good. But the Lakers’ stars outplayed the Wolves stars, too.

Minnesota shot just 5-of-25 from 3-ponit range.

Buxton Saves Duran, Twins

Byron Buxton is back, at least defensively. Buxton turned back the clock with a scintillating, game-saving catch in the ninth inning to secure a 4-2 Twins win over the White Sox.

Sure, he’s hitting only .244 (although that technically matches his career batting average), but this was a game against the last-place team in the AL and a loss would have dropped the Twins to 7-16.

A couple big positives - Bailey Ober worked six strong innings for his second straight strong start, and Trevor Larnach hit a two-run homer. Larnach was caught looking at a third strike Sunday right down the middle of the plate. Twenty-two-year-old rookie Luke Keaschall also continues to impress.

Twins and White Sox at it tonight. Will the fans return to Target Field?

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