Playoffs continue Monday for Wild, Frost and the Timberwolves tie series 2-2

NINA MOINI: Time for sports. It's never a dull moment in a Timberwolves playoff series. Minnesota beat the Spurs last night after San Antonio star Victor Wembanyama was ejected from the game in the second quarter. Their series is now tied, and they got another game tomorrow. Tonight, though, is for hockey playoffs. The Frost play game 5, and the Wild play game 4 in their respective series. Joining me now to break it all down are sports contributors Wally Langfellow and Eric Nelson. Hey, guys. Happy Monday.

WALLY LANGFELLOW: Hey.

ERIC NELSON: Yeah.

WALLY LANGFELLOW: Happy Monday to you.

NINA MOINI: Great to have you back, Wally. The gang is back.

[LAUGHS]

WALLY LANGFELLOW: Thank you. And by the way, I want to how long you worked on saying "Victor Wembanyama" before you came on the air.

NINA MOINI: I'm super serious that I just saw it.

WALLY LANGFELLOW: Oh, wow.

NINA MOINI: It was one of those days.

WALLY LANGFELLOW: Very impressive.

NINA MOINI: The producers take good care of us, and they write pronouncers in. So as long as I can follow that. All right, Wally, well, what happened last night in the Wolves game?

WALLY LANGFELLOW: Oh, well, the aforementioned Victor Wembanyama, who scored 39 points in game 3 on Friday night, wasn't having his way on Sunday night. And he got a little anxious, got a little overexcited, and threw an elbow into the face of Naz Reid.

NINA MOINI: Oof.

WALLY LANGFELLOW: And he was ejected from the game. And that's a huge deal. I mean, he's their best player by far. And they don't win game 3 on Friday night without Victor Wembanyama. And they didn't win game 4 last night as a result of him being ejected. Now, to be truthful, though, the Wolves played around for a long time. I thought the Spurs played very inspired basketball, despite having him gone. Because when he went out, it's everybody against the world. And that's how the Spurs treated it.

But the Timberwolves in the end win the basketball game because of Ant. Anthony Edwards was terrific in the fourth quarter, 16 of his 36 points. The crowd going bananas. And they tied the series at 2. It was a pivotal point, it could be a pivotal point in this series should the Timberwolves win this series because them losing that game, the Spurs could have easily gone up 3-1 in the series and had a chance to clinch tomorrow night at home. Now it's tied at 2.

There will definitely be one more game here in Minnesota. That'll be on Friday night. And if the Timberwolves get things going their way, they can clinch at home Friday night. If they lose tomorrow night, then they'll have to win Friday and then go back to San Antonio next weekend. But, yeah, just a crucial point of the basketball game and perhaps the series.

One other note-- there are reports that Victor Wembanyama will not be fined or suspended and nothing further will happen to him, just the ejection. That is the report coming from ESPN today. So we shall see how this whole thing plays out. That's just a report. That's nothing official. But it looks like he will play tomorrow night against the Timberwolves.

NINA MOINI: Yeah, I hate that that happened. Didn't Ant say that he wanted to win the game for his mom, too, afterward on Mother's Day?

WALLY LANGFELLOW: Yeah, he did. Well, Ant had a lot. I mean, he's very well-measured in what he says. And I think he has learned, too, because he got some fines and some pushback over the last couple of years on some of the things that he said. But Ant, he's refining his act, let's put it that way. And it does not surprise me that he said something like that yesterday.

NINA MOINI: It was sweet, yeah, in tribute, I think, to his mom and grandma. That's the stuff I take away at the end of a game.

WALLY LANGFELLOW: That's OK.

NINA MOINI: So, all right, Eric, let's catch up on the Wild and the Frost playoff series. What's the latest there?

ERIC NELSON: Yeah, we'll start with the Wild. They're going to play tonight against Colorado, game 4. The Avalanche lead that Best of Seven series two games to one. Minnesota won in convincing fashion Saturday night in St. Paul. Jesper Wallstedt-- they call him the "Wall of St. Paul"-- he was outstanding in goal, stopping 35 of 36 shots for Minnesota. Brock Faber, who's from Maple Grove, Kirill Kaprizov, who's from Russia, both had one goal and two assists each to pace the Wild. Quinn Hughes, one goal, one assist.

And Kaprizov-- and let's remember, he signed the most lucrative contract in NHL history before the season, eight years, $136 million extension. They call him "Dollar Bill Kirill," his teammates do. Well, he's earning every penny in the postseason. He's got 14 points. That's the most of anybody in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Colorado also made a move in that game. Their goalie, Scott Wedgewood, who was very good in the regular season, was yanked in the second period and replaced by Mackenzie Blackwood. I'm expecting Wedgewood in the nets tonight, but we'll see. Maybe he's on a short leash. He hasn't been outstanding standing against the Wild. Some injuries to update you on. Jonas Brodin is out, lower body injury. Joel Eriksson Ek day to day with a lower body injury for the Wild.

Now, Nina, I've been to almost every Wild and Timberwolves home game in the playoffs. It's all starting to blur a bit as I go from energetic arena to energetic arena. But one difference I can point out here on MPR is the Wild give out rally towels to their fans. The Timberwolves give out T-shirts. Different shirts for each game. Last night was a big tree on a black T-shirt, green tree, black T-shirt. I'm expecting, by the way, a huge watch party in downtown St. Paul tonight. They had one before game 3. I mean, the streets of St. Paul are buzzing.

And the Frost? Well, the three-peat is still a possibility. They're hoping to reach the PWHL finals and make it three straight Walter Cup titles. They play Montreal tonight, 6 o'clock Central Time. It's a decisive game. The winner moves on to the finals, and the loser goes golfing. The Frost won a huge game on Friday, 3 to 1 in St. Paul to even the series at 2-2. Sidney Morin scored twice for Minnesota. Goalie Maddie Rooney stopped 29 shots. So whoever wins tonight plays Ottawa or Boston in the PWHL finals. And one note, Nina. We can be proud here in the Twin Cities. It's the only market in the US or Canada with NBA, NHL, and PWHL teams still playing.

NINA MOINI: Right. That's very exciting, I mean, especially for, I think, Minnesota sports fans.

ERIC NELSON: Yes.

NINA MOINI: Lots of excitement. Wally, we do have to talk about the Twins, though. They were in Cleveland this weekend. What's the big story coming out of their series against the Guardians? Any reasons to be excited there?

WALLY LANGFELLOW: Well, they won two out of three. Don't say we have to talk about the Twins. We get to talk about the Twins. They won two out of three in Cleveland, which is unusual. They usually don't beat Cleveland, in Cleveland in particular. But they took two out of three against Cleveland. And so they move within 2 and 1/2 games of first place, despite the fact that the Twins are in last place. It just shows how mediocre the American League Central Division is. Actually, American League West isn't very good, either.

But in any case, the Twins took advantage. They won yesterday 5 to 4. Kody Clemens had a nice day. He had three hits in yesterday's win. He also scored a couple of runs. And they had a bullpen game. So in other words, they used a bunch of relievers to pitch the game. They didn't have a, quote unquote, "set starting pitcher." Andrew Morris started the game, just pitched the first inning. Then they brought on a bevy of other relief pitchers. And that has to do with the Taj Bradley injury. He was put on the injured list prior to the game.

So that's just another hump that they're going to have to get over if they want to continue staying in the race. And staying in the race, as I said, in the AL Central is not that big a deal. But they did take two out of three. They won an extra inning Saturday. And then they won yesterday by a score of 5 to 4. So, good for the Twins. Hopefully, they keep it going. They got the Marlins here in Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. And then they hated Brewers from the East come here next weekend.

NINA MOINI: OK. Well, we're rooting for them as well. Let's talk about the Lynx, who played their first regular season game Saturday, Wally. How did it go?

WALLY LANGFELLOW: Yeah, they were winning the entire game, or they weren't losing until the final shot by Te-Hina Paopao. She hit one with 11.3 seconds to go. It spoiled the debut of Lynx rookie Olivia Miles. Kayla McBride and Courtney Williams combined for 23 of their 32 points in the first half. But the big story is the Lynx blew a 19-point lead and lost to the Atlanta Dream by a score of 91-90. So things will continue on. It's just one game out of many for the Lynx. And, of course, they are playing without Napheesa Collier. We'll see when she's able to come back. There's still a road for her to venture down.

NINA MOINI: Well, there's so much going on. We're also going to talk about the NFL season. Everything's coming at once. So we'll get a preview of the NFL season when the schedule comes out later this week, Eric. What are you going to be watching for?

ERIC NELSON: Yeah, well, that's going to be Thursday night. And I was going to go in depth on that, Nina, in this segment. But there's some breaking Purple news.

NINA MOINI: Oh, OK.

ERIC NELSON: I'll lead with this-- the Vikings are going to induct running back Adrian Peterson into the club's Ring of Honor this coming season. He was a first round draft choice out of 2007, played at Oklahoma. And, boy, did he hit the ground running in Minnesota. This guy was a bulldozer. He ran angry. He doled out punishment to the opposing defensive players. He's got the most rushing yards in Minnesota history, 11,747. The most touchdowns by a Viking ever, 97.

He was the 2012 NFL MVP just months after shredding his knee. People didn't think he would play. Instead, he was the most valuable player. And only Alan Page and Fran Tarkenton are the other Vikings to garner that honor. So he's going to be the 29th member of Minnesota's Ring of Honor. I did see him a couple of months ago out in the San Francisco area at the Super Bowl. He looks good. He's newly married. I know he's had some off the field issues. But I think he's trying to get things back on track. And AP's got to be really excited about this.

And again, that schedule comes out Thursday night. The Vikings are going to play all the teams in their division-- Chicago, Detroit, Green Bay, home and away. The home games, we know they're going to get Atlanta, Carolina, Buffalo, Miami, Indianapolis, and Washington. They'll travel to New Orleans, Tampa Bay, New England, New York Jets, and San Francisco. Question is when and where. Dates come out Thursday night.

NINA MOINI: All right. If Minnesota Now gave out Rings of Honor, I'd give you both one. Thank you so much.

WALLY LANGFELLOW: Oh, thank you, Nina.

NINA MOINI: Wally Langfellow and Eric Nelson, our sports contributors.