Ahead of Sunday night’s Game 1, the Wild departed Friday afternoon for Las Vegas. They’ll get settled in, practice Saturday, then be ready for the Sunday 9 p.m. Central start.

Wild coach John Hynes met with reporters on Friday afternoon at the airport ahead of the team’s flight. He said he has a good idea of what his Game 1 lineup will be, but isn’t ready to say if rookie defenseman Zeev Buium will play.

Buium spent time during Thursday’s practice with the top power-play group.

***Click the video box above to watch Hynes’ session with reporters from Fri. Apr. 18th***

Below is a synopsis of the series, courtesy of the Associated Press:

The Golden Knights were nearly as dominant as Winnipeg but somehow flew under the radar. Jack Eichel surpassed 90 points and showed off his defensive prowess as part of the best, most well-rounded season of his career.

Vegas is only two years removed from winning the Cup. Adin Hill has grown into the starting role since, earning a long-term contract as the organization’s goaltender of the present and future, and has valuable experience from 2023.

Minnesota clinched a playoff spot in the West by tying its last game of the season with 20.9 seconds left. The Wild struggled in recent months but have scoring winger Kirill Kaprizov back healthy and might get a spark from newly signed prospect Zeev Buium.

“It was up and down like crazy,” defenseman Jake Middleton said. “There was times we thought the world was ending. There was times we thought that we’d already won the league.”

Here is the full Wild-Golden Knights best-of-7 series schedule:

• Game 1: 9 p.m. CT on Sunday, April, 20, in Las Vegas
• Game 2: 10 p.m. CT on Tuesday, April 22, in Las Vegas
• Game 3: 8 p.m. CT on Thursday, April 24, in St. Paul
• Game 4: 3 p.m. CT on Saturday, April 26, in St. Paul
• Game 5: Tuesday, April 29 – time is still TBD
• Game 6: Thursday, May 1 – time is still TBD
• Game 7: Saturday, May 3 – time is still TBD