Brett Howden scored two goals, and the Vegas Golden Knights opened their first-round Western Conference playoffs series with a 4-2 victory over the Minnesota Wild.

Joel Eriksson Ek scored a career-high four goals in his return from a lower-body injury, Kirill Kaprizov had his second of the game in overtime in his first game back and the Minnesota Wild outlasted the San Jose Sharks 8-7 on Wednesday night.

Matt Boldy and Joel Eriksson Ek scored on a strong night for the second line, Mats Zuccarello added a power-play goal and the Minnesota Wild opened the season by beating former coach Dean Evason and the Columbus Blue Jackets 3-2.

The scoring binge the NHL has been on the last few seasons spread to Minnesota with hat tricks for Joel Eriksson Ek and Kirill Kaprizov in a record-filled 10-7 win over Vancouver.

Joel Eriksson Ek and Kirill Kaprizov each had hat tricks for the Minnesota Wild, who faced a three-goal deficit in the second period before storming back with six unanswered goals and hanging on for a record-filled 10-7 victory over the Vancouver Canucks.

Kirill Kaprizov scored the tiebreaking goal midway through the third period and Marc-Andre Fleury made 32 saves as the Minnesota Wild beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-2.

A handful of NHL teams have not only survived but thrived after losing a star player to injury.

Jordan Kyrou and David Perron each scored twice, Jordan Binnington made 28 saves in his first start this postseason and the St. Louis Blues beat the Minnesota Wild 5-2 to even the best-of-seven Western Conference series at 2-2.