Minnesota coach John Hynes said he thought his team helped Dallas’ PK by being a bit off in what it was trying to accomplish, and looks to make up for that by making the necessary adjustments for Game 3. 

“Some of our execution needs to be a little bit better,” Hynes said. “When you have a plan and you know things that you want to attack, you have to make that sure you’re staying with that and then your skill comes out. 

“One of the things that makes our power play really good is we have highly talented players but they’re extremely competitive. Puck battles, keeping plays alive, I think that wasn’t as strong as it needed to be.”

The Wild also didn’t have forward Mats Zuccarello (upper-body injury), who had three assists in Game 1, including the secondary assist on each of Eriksson Ek’s power play goals. 

Zuccarello’s status for Game 3 is not determined, with Hynes saying Tuesday he did not have an update yet. 

If Zuccarello misses more time, Minnesota will have to figure out the power play without his ability to distribute from the left-wing half wall.

But if the Stars keep giving the Wild chances on the power play, odds are they’ll eventually get burned with or without Zuccarello on the ice. 

Minnesota had the second-ranked power play in the NHL this season at 28.6 percent, including 27.8 percent in 51 games after Hughes arrived in a trade with the Vancouver Canucks on Dec. 12 and began quarterbacking the top unit.

“One of the keys is as this goes longer, everything’s going to get tighter, and you’ve got to have more discipline than we had (in Game 2) with our stick stuff and the line change,” Gulutzan said. “There’s a lot of energy in that game, but you’ve got to manage it as we move forward.”