Here are 3 things to watch in Game 5:<\/p>\n
1. Red-hot ‘Robo’<\/p>\n
Stars forward Jason Robertson<\/a> has goals in all four games, extending his playoff scoring streak to seven games dating to Game 3 against the Edmonton Oilers in the 2025 Western Conference Final.<\/p>\n He has his four goals on 23 shots, the most of any player in the series. He has two goals on eight shots on the power play.<\/p>\n “The puck is just going in,” Robertson said. “I’m getting shots off, that’s big. Trying to put myself in position to get shots off and hopefully it goes in.”<\/p>\n The Stars need more production from depth players — fourth-line forward Oskar Back<\/a>\u00a0(assist) is the only bottom-six forward with a point in the series — but that can’t come at the expense of Robertson getting his opportunities.<\/p>\n 2. Specials on the menu<\/p>\n Boldy’s 5-on-5 overtime goal Saturday made this a best-of-3, but it did not delete what is arguably the biggest narrative following the Wild in the series, their glaring difficulties on special teams.<\/p>\n Dallas is sizzling on the power play, going 7-for-15 in the past three games including 2-for-2 in Game 4. Minnesota hasn’t had an answer for Robertson, Johnston, Matt Duchene<\/a>, Rantanen and Miro Heiskanen<\/a>, who have eight goals and 14 assists with the man-advantage.\u00a0<\/p>\n On the flip side, the Wild are 1-for-15 with the man-advantage in the past three games. They haven’t scored on 10 consecutive power plays, including two in overtime in Game 3 and three in the first period of Game 4.<\/p>\n “I think we’ve got a really good team, and we’ve played really well 5-on-5,” Wild defenseman Quinn Hughes<\/a> said. “We’ve gotten timely stops when we’ve needed them. Game 3 could have went either way. Game 4 could have went either way. I thought we had our looks in Game 2, so we’re playing good hockey and obviously we’re going to need the power play.”<\/p>\n 3. Welcome Mats<\/p>\n Mats Zuccarello<\/a> and Yakov Trenin<\/a>\u00a0are each considered a game-time decision with an upper-body injury, Hynes said, with the consensus Tuesday morning that\u00a0Zuccarello is likely to play and Trenin is still questionable.<\/p>\n Zuccarello has missed the past three games and Trenin two.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Wild clearly could use both forwards back for Game 5, but Zuccarello is of the utmost importance considering his chemistry with Kirill Kaprizov<\/a>, his leadership in the room and on the ice, and what he brings on the power play as a distributor and playmaker.<\/p>\n Minnesota went 2-for-4 in Game 1, when Zuccarello assisted on both of Joel Eriksson Ek<\/a>‘s power-play goals. They’re 1-for-15 without him.<\/p>\n “He’s good for the group and he’s good for our team in multiple ways,” Hynes said. “So, hopefully he’s going to be back for us and have a good night.”<\/p>\n Trenin is good for the Wild because of the physicality he brings. He led the NHL in hits during the regular season with 413. He had 13 in Game 1 and three in Game 2 before he left late in the first period after taking a hard open-ice hit from Stars forward Colin Blackwell<\/a>.<\/p>\n