ST. PAUL, Minn — Jesper Wallstedt sat back in his dressing room stall, trying to process what had just happened.
A few minutes earlier, the electric, sellout crowd at Grand Casino Arena was chanting his nickname, “WALLY!” The Wild’s rookie goaltender very well could have been a hero — should have been — after back-to-back clutch saves in double overtime.
The State of Hockey was ready to explode.
Instead, it’s now in full-fledged panic mode.
Wyatt Johnston’s winner with 8:50 left in the second OT required two deflections — one off Wild forward Marcus Foligno’s finger and another off the Dallas dynamo’s stick blade. In a game filled with grade-A chances and highlight-reel plays, it was like a death by a thousand paper cuts.
The Stars’ 4-3 victory was another thrilling, instant classic in a matchup of Western Conference heavyweights, and it could very well could swing this best-of-seven series. Dallas’ lead is now 2-1, but it feels like more, doesn’t it? As much as coach John Hynes would tell his team it’s the same whether you win 6-1 or in lose in triple OT (it’s just one game), this one felt much harder to stomach.
“I think right after, yeah, because it felt like it was so close,” Wallstedt said. “It felt like we were right there.”
They were.
The Wild were handed this one on a silver platter. It was there for the taking. They had rallied from a 2-0 deficit, with Matt Boldy’s gutsy playmaking — after he was temporarily pulled by a concussion spotter — close to becoming forever part of Wild lore. Marcus Foligno’s bloody face after his tussle with Matt Duchene would have been put on T-shirts. The Wild held the Stars to just two shots over a 33-minute span. They had seven power plays, including two in overtime. They went 1-for-7.
The puck was on the stick of the best player in franchise history, Kirill Kaprizov, who hit the post with 3:57 left in the first overtime. Nobody has scored more OT winners here than him, but his snap shot from 20 feet away clanked harmlessly off the post.
“Misses by an inch,” Wallstedt said.
“This series isn’t over,” Quinn Hughes said.
No, it’s not. But this result forces the Wild into a must-win Game 4 on Saturday. How this group responds will tell us whether it’s actually different or not, whether there actually is something special in it. Was the 12:54 a.m. game-winning goal by Johnston just the latest adversity for the Wild to overcome or the time of death on this season?
This is the best, deepest, most star-studded roster the Wild have ever assembled. They became the talk of the hockey world when they acquired Hughes, the former Norris Trophy winner, in mid-December. All of a sudden, a franchise that hadn’t won a playoff series in a decade was catapulted into not just a serious playoff team, but a Stanley Cup contender.
Teams lose two straight in a series often. But when you have the Wild’s history, it’s understandable that their passionate and patient fan base might panic, and wonder:
• How does losing 38-year-old Mats Zuccarello, as talented as he is, lead the top-five power play into a massive funk, 1-for-11 in its past two games?
• As deep as the Wild are, how come it’s difficult to find the right replacement to put with Kaprizov, who had just two shots on goal in Game 3.
• Who had Bobby Brink penciled in as top-line right wing and on PP1 on their bingo card?
Marcus Foligno said after Game 2 the Stars “can’t hang” with the Wild at five-on-five, offering some unnecessary bulletin board material, especially when the alternate captain hasn’t been a real factor in the series so far. Then Minnesota went out and got beaten by special teams. It gave up three power-play goals, including the winner. The power play fizzled when it was needed the most.
Is there frustration building?
“Absolutely none,” Boldy said. “No frustration. We had our chances. We had our looks. When they come, they come. No frustration there.”
Boldy was bullish.
“We’re still confident in our group,” he said. “That was a heck of a hockey game. Back and forth, lot of chances, goals, saves, everything. It’s a long series. We were up 2-1 last year, too. This whole narrative that we’re frustrated and all this, that’s not true. We’re still confident in our group. Let’s nip that in the bud now because it’s made up.”
This was a terrific hockey game, and the building was rocking.
“I mean, it’s 1 in the morning, and I don’t think anyone left the game,” Hughes said. “Just special to be a part of, try to take it in.”
Good teams lose OT games in heartbreaking fashion. Cup champions do, too. So nobody is saying this series is over. The Wild, buried by some after winning just four of their first 12 games this season, showed a lot of character in turning their season around after captain Jared Spurgeon led a team meeting. There are a lot of gamers in that room. President of hockey operations and general manager Bill Guerin has seen a different maturity in this group, one hardened by previous playoff scars.
Well, now is the time to show it. Guerin has also said the franchise is in more of a “win-now” mode than ever before, so any first-round defeat — regardless of how good the opponent is or of the fairness of the playoff format — is going to sting harder than any other. That’s the beauty of having really high expectations. If the Wild lose this series, this double OT loss will haunt them for a long time.
If they win the Stanley Cup, it very well could be a turning point — a fork-in-the-road moment.
The good news for the Wild is there are two off days before the next game, so they can get a “reset,” as Hynes put it. They can flush this one away, then go to work. They’ll need to make adjustments to their power play. They need to figure out who is on their top line if Zuccarello (upper-body injury) misses a third straight game.
They need more from Kaprizov. They need Marcus Foligno to walk the walk after all his talk. They need Hughes, who played nearly 44 minutes on Wednesday, to be the kind of X-factor everyone expected.
And Hughes is betting on this group.
“We’re going to be extremely urgent,” Hughes said. “I think we’ve played three really good playoff games so far. You know, I like our game. Not for one second am I questioning how the next game’s going to go, we’re going to be ready to go.”