Game 5 Preview: Dallas Stars and Minnesota Wild Series Tied At 2
The Dallas Stars and the Minnesota Wild are tied at 2-2 after Game 4 on April 25. The two teams are playing well and battling hard, which makes it an exciting series to follow. The eventual winner will play the Colorado Avalanche in Round 2.
Wild Win Games 1 and 4
Game 1 was a near-shutout for the Wild, who beat the Stars 6-1. After losing Games 2 and 3, the Stars got back on track with Game 4 in an overtime thriller. It was an intense regulation period, with both teams getting many shots on goal, and both goalies pulling off heroics. The Wild’s rookie Jesper Wallstedt made 43 saves, while Dallas’ Jake Oettinger made 40.
Regulation was back-and-forth, with Jason Robertson putting Dallas up 1-0 on a power play, then Brock Faber evened it out. Minnesota had a goal voided late in the second period for goalie interference. Miro Heiskanen scored to put the Stars up 2-1 with 35 seconds left in the second period.
Marcus Foilgno tied the game in the third period at 2-2, forcing overtime. Nearly 20 minutes passed without a goal, despite many attempts. Then, Matt Boldy scored a brilliant rebound goal with less than 30 seconds left in overtime, giving the Wild a 3-2 win. Boldy had gotten a goal voided earlier on for a kicking motion, so that was a great moment for him.
“It was a great forecheck (by Joel Eriksson Ek and Kirill (Kaprizov), and a great shot by Jared [Spurgeon],” the Wild player said. “I was just lucky enough to have it hit my stick and go in.”
Stars coach Glen Gulutzan said that it would be a tight battle through the rest of the series. “These are player games. We’re making tweaks every game, tweaks every day. We’ve got a couple things in our mind already for (Sunday) that we can button up for the next game, but it’s the war of the blue paint. You need to get in there and find some pucks, get some sticks on things and win some battles when it’s that contested. It’s really now hand-to-hand combat, and blue paint (battles), for both sides.”
Stars Take Games 2 and 3
Oettinger’s strong play in goal helped Dallas secure a 4-2 win in Game 2, with Wyatt Johnston scoring twice in a fabulous game. Wild Forward Mats Zuccarello sustained an upper-body injury during Game 2 and has not played since, leaving Minnesota with just five defensemen to work with.
Game 3 was another overtime thriller, with the Stars taking a 4-3 win off of Johnston’s goal in the second overtime period. Four goals were scored on power plays during the game, 1 from the Wild and 3 from the Stars, in a clear opening for the Wild to improve.
“You look around the League, it comes down to (special teams),” Robertson said. “Every team is so tight, every team defends hard. You’ve got to take advantage when you can. We definitely think we can improve a little bit of our 5-on-5 offense, and we’ll look at that and try to improve for Game 4.”
Going Forward
Game 5 will be on April 28, and Zuccarello and Yakov Trenin (who sustained an upper-body injury in Game 2) participated in full practice on April 27. That’s a good sign for their possible return to action, with Head Coach John Hynes saying that their status was “questionable right now” but promising.
“We’ll see how (Zuccarello) felt and what his response is from that, but it was definitely a step in the right direction,” he said. “(Trenin) is the same. It’s good that they both skated. Now we have to see how they’re feeling, and we’ll probably know more in the morning.”
Even if Zuccarello and Trenin remain absent from play, Game 5 is set up to be another exciting matchup between the Stars and the Wild, who have been well-matched through this series.
