LAS VEGAS >> Even for a grizzled veteran like Wild defenseman Zach Bogosian, who has been in the NHL for 17 seasons and has a Stanley Cup title on his resume, standing in front of a backdrop that features the Stanley Cup logo as he talked to reporters in a Nevada suburb had a different feel.

“This is why we play hockey,” Bogosian said of the playoffs. “This is how people remember you.”

If things go well on Sunday night, or even if they do not, people will surely remember the new guy wearing number 8 on the Wild blue line. On Saturday afternoon at the Vegas Golden Knights’ practice rink, rookie Zeev Buium was paired with Bogosian and again got significant time on the Minnesota power play drills.

When the players left the ice, Wild coach John Hynes confirmed that Buium, 19, will make his NHL debut on Sunday evening in Game 1 of the series.

“It possibly could be a little bit of a different dynamic on the D-pair,” Hynes said. “We like what we’ve seen.”

After winning a NCAA title as a freshman at Denver, and nearly winning the Hobey Baker Award as college hockey’s top player last season, Buium is set to bring his puck-moving offensive defenseman game to the Minnesota blue line.

“Very, very excited. Just really thankful for the opportunity,” Buium said following Saturday’s practice. “I mean, these guys have been building toward this the entire season, so I just want to go out there and do whatever I can to help.”

The debut brings back lots of memories for Wild blueliner Brock Faber, who was in similar skates two years ago, jumping right from the Gophers to the Wild. Faber plays more of a defensive game, and got a few regular season games under his belt before facing Dallas in the playoffs, but recalled the encouragement he got from veterans then.

When you’re in his spot, you come in and it almost feels like you’re gripping the stick. You don’t want to make a mistake. Especially me, when I was playing those minutes, when I was out there it was like, ‘please don’t mess up, please don’t mess up, I don’t want to ruin it for these guys,’” Faber said. “For him, mistakes are going to happen.

“I made mistakes and whether he gets back to the bench, everyone turns the puck over every so often. It happens,” Faber said. “Maybe you get beat out of the corner, it happens. You miss a pass, it happens. That’s something that my D partner, when I was playing, whoever it was, they were always like, ‘dude, just keep going. You’re good, you’re good, we’re having fun.’ Support each other, so just let him play with confidence.”

Having paired with him for a few days, Bogosian says that the skill Buium shows off on the ice instills confidence that he could be a key cog in Minnesota’s hopes of a first-round upset.

“I just think you see a skill set right away. The way he handles the puck, the way he skates, the way he thinks the game. I think he has an offensive mind,” Bogosian said. “You can kind of see that when he has the puck on his stick, he’s kind of scanning areas where he’s looking for plays to develop and that’s been something I’ve seen right away. It’s really cool to have that part of our group now.”

Buium was drafted in Las Vegas last summer, and is originally from San Diego, which is a little over 300 miles from the site of his first NHL game. Zeev said he expects his parents, one of his brothers (the other is playing pro hockey in Michigan), his girlfriend, some childhood friends and perhaps more familiar faces in the crowd.

“I think I’ll be more nervous leading up to the game, rather than when I’m in it,” Buium said. “Leading up to it, you tend to get in your head or whatnot. But I think for me, just again, just going through my regular routine and doing what I do, and understand that I’m here for a reason. I think once I get out there and get skating around, the nerves will kind of calm down and just be excited.”