Stars, Wild set for ‘chess match’ entering Game 5 of Western 1st Round

How the pieces move will determine who checkmates and earns a date with the Colorado Avalanche in the Western Conference Second Round.

To get there, the adjustments from here on out, starting with Game 5 at American Airlines Center on Tuesday (8 p.m. ET; FDSNWI, FDSNNO, Victory+, ESPN2, TVAS2, SN360), will be fascinating to watch. Although the best-of-7 series is tied 2-2, there are a couple of major discrepancies in how it got to this point after four games.

The Wild are outscoring the Stars 9-3 at 5-on-5. 

The Stars are outscoring the Wild 8-3 on the power play.

“I don’t know what to make of it,” Foligno said. “I agree, it’s probably strange.”

It is especially strange since the Stars and Wild were each dominant on the power play and middle-of-the-road on the penalty kill in the regular season.

Dallas was second in the NHL on the man-advantage (28.6 percent), including 44.4 percent in four games against the Wild. Minnesota was third (25.2 percent), including 35.7 percent against the Stars.

Dallas was 13th on the penalty kill (80.3 percent) and Minnesota ranked 16th (79.8 percent), but it’s the Stars who have killed 10 consecutive power plays and 14 of 15 since the Wild went 2-for-4 in Game 1, a 6-1 win, while also going 8-for-19 on the power play in the series, including 6-for-11 since late in the second period of Game 2.

“Chemistry,” Stars forward Mikko Rantanen said. “The guys we have, we’ve played together all year. We’re making plays and moving the puck quick, but obviously it helps when you get goals. Confidence grows.”

The Stars have won 18 of 31 face-offs on the power play in the past three games, including two of three in Game 4, when they went 2-for-2 with the man-advantage.

“That’s an automatic set for them,” Wild coach John Hynes said. “If you give them easy sets then they run rotations down low and they do a good job of it.”

The Wild clearly have to improve on the power play, which is why the possibility of forward Mats Zuccarello returning from an upper-body injury for Game 5 seemed to give them a jolt in practice Monday.