Stanzel’s Sports Takeout — BREAKING NEWS: 4.30.25

Apr 30

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Lynx pre-season opens this week; first pre-season game is next Tuesday.

Vikings sign Andrew Van Ginkel to a contract extension through 2026.

NBA admitted one error in Wolves’ favor in Game 4 (I still don’t agree). Wolves can close out the Lakers tonight in L.A. You don’t want to give the Lakers life, obviously.

Vegas Wins in OT Again, Pushes Wild to Brink of Elimination

Brett Howden beat Marc-Andre Fleury in overtime after Gustav Nyquist negated a would-be Ryan Hartman winning goal late in regulation, leading Vegas to a 3-2 Game 5 win late last night n a game that ended at 11:51 central. The Wild must win Game 6 at home Thursday (6:30 p.m. puck drop) to avoid elimination and send the series back to Vegas.

Fleury, who relieved an ill Filip Gustavsson to begin the third, had no shot on the third. Two Wild players (especially Jon Merrill) got caught staring at Howden, who rifled a high shot past the Hall of Fame netminder. Merrill entered the lineup in favor of rookie Zeev Buium. In total, the Wild’s No. 5 and No. 6 defensemen, and the Wild’s fourth line were on the ice for the winning goal.

Wild fans will have a poor taste in their mouths for eternity after this one.

Hartman scored with 79 seconds left in regulation, appearing to win the game for the Wild. Originally, the goal was reviewed for a kicking motion. Replay confirmed the goal, but then Vegas challenged that the play was offsides. Gustav Nyquist was JUST offsides, and didn’t need to be, negating the goal. If he’d simply dragged his skate…Although, it’s high time the NHL reviews its own review rules. This had no affect on the play whatsoever.

It was far from the Wild’s only mistake last night.

The Wild trailed 2-1 after two (Matt Boldy’s fifth playoff goal tied it early in the third), and it could have easily been a blowout if not for fantastic goaltending by Gustavsson. The Wild was sloppy - March 2025 sloppy - especially in the second period, when back-to-back penalties shifted the ice seriously in Vegas favor.

But Gustavsson couldn’t come out for the third. The Wild was extremely tight defensively in the third, protecting Fleury, but they got loosey goosey in overtime. Fleury has now appeared in a new NHL record 18 post-seasons,

The Wild never actually led in this one. Kirill Kaprizov turned the puck over on the power play before the midway point of the first period, and William Karlsson quickly scored a shortie on the other end. Kaprizov atoned for the error only 13 seconds after that with a PPG. He’s just one behind Zach Parise’s team record for post-season goals.

Mark Stone scored the go-ahead goal later in the first with a drive from the point. The Wild made a poor choice to challenge that goal for goalie interference; the referees barely got their headsets on before they came off. Minnesota did kill off the ensuing power play.

Since the start, the Wild/Golden Knights series has seemed destined to go seven games. The Wild will have to win on home ice Thursday to make that happen.

Twins Walked Off by Guardians

Kyle Manzanardo hit a walk-off solo homer in the ninth as the Guardians snapped the Twins’ four-game winning streak, 2-1, in Cleveland last night. The game was delayed three hours and 10 minutes due to a farcical rain delay - it rained a grand total of about 10 minutes lakeside in Cleveland. MLB needs to take control of rain delay decisions before the game starts, the “gate” be damned.

The Guardians have nine walk-off wins against the Twins in the last five seasons.

Ty France and Bo Naylor traded home runs as the only runs in the game, until Manzanardo deposited a Louie Varland offering into the right field seats leading off the ninth.

The Twins wasted another good start by Chris Paddack (one run in five innings). They also wasted Jhoan Duran in the eighth inning of a loss.

Game three of the four-game set is tonight in Cleveland.

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