DALLAS – By the third period of the playoff opener between the Minnesota Wild and Dallas Stars, the normally-raucous American Airlines Center, on the edge of downtown Dallas, was as quiet as the wind-swept West Texas prairie.
Dallas Stars right wing Mikko Rantanen (96) is dropped to the ice while scuffling with Minnesota Wild players during the second period in Game 1 of a first-round NHL Stanley Cup playoffs hockey series, Saturday, April 18, 2026, in Dallas, Texas. (Julio Cortez)
In what they hope will be a tone-setter for a playoff run of note, the Wild stunned Dallas with a 6-1 win in Game 1, sending Stars fans scrambling for the exits before the final period was half-over.
Making his first-ever playoff start, rookie goalie Jesper Wallstedt was superlative for the Wild, stopping 26 Dallas shots and keeping the audience quiet for much of the evening. Matt Boldy and Joel Eriksson Ek each had a pair of goals for Minnesota, and Mats Zuccarello posted a trio of assists as the Wild grabbed home ice advantage on the best-of-seven first round series.
“Throughout the lineup tonight, we came in and the guys were focused,” Wild coach John Hynes said. “And the thing I like is we executed well. When it was time to check, we checked well, but I just thought we had the right mindset in how we need to play. And that was throughout the lineup.”
While limiting the Stars’ time in front of Wallstedt and playing disruptor for the Dallas offense, the Wild led 1-0 after one and 4-0 by the halfway point of the game, taking the opener of a playoff series with the Stars for the second time in three years. Kirill Kaprizov and Ryan Hartman also scored for the Wild. Quinn Hughes, who had not skated in a week and whose availability was in question as he battled an illness, had a second period assist and played nearly 25 minutes.
Radek Faksa #12 of the Dallas Stars reacts to a missed shot under pressure from Zach Bogosian #24 of the Minnesota Wild during the first period of Game One of the First Round of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs at the American Airlines Center on April 18, 2026 in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
Minnesota got the game’s first power play when hulking Dallas defenseman Tyler Myers delivered an elbow to the head of Wild forward Mats Zuccarello, and the visitors cashed in on the man advantage. Matt Boldy’s pass from below the goal line found Eriksson Ek alone in the low slot. A wrist shot beat Oettinger low on the glove side. It was Eriksson Ek’s first career playoff power play goal.
After the Wild killed their first penalty of the playoffs, a near-perfect opportunity to double the lead came late in the first when Danila Yurov got open in front of Oettinger but was foiled by a left toe save. The first period ended with the Wild again on a man-advantage, but they failed to convert. Wallstedt, who admitted to some pregame nerves, set the tone for the way things would go early, looking completely unflappable in the opening 20 minutes.
“It was a good start. He looked solid,” said Hynes. “Even on the first shot that they had, he just looked solid. He ate the rebound, and I thought the guys in front of him played really well.”
Kaprizov made it 2-0 in the opening minute of the middle frame, with a perfectly-placed shot from the far boards that found a tiny gap over Oettinger’s left shoulder. Two shifts later the building fell silent as Hartman deflected in an ankle-high pass from Brock Faber to make it 3-0.
A few seconds after Dallas killed a Wild penalty, Boldy was positioned at the left of the goalie and tapped in a bouncing puck, leaving the Stars and their fans stunned at the four-goal deficit.
Dallas Stars left wing Jamie Benn (14) and Minnesota Wild defenseman Jake Middleton (5) get tangled up on a play during the first period in Game 1 of a first-round NHL Stanley Cup playoffs hockey series, Saturday, April 18, 2026, in Dallas, Texas. (Julio Cortez)
Dallas got one back before the period ended, on a power play. After Yurov took down a Stars player at the defensive blue line, Jason Robertson fooled Wallstedt to briefly get the home crowd back involved, but the second ended with Minnesota still up by three.
“We couldn’t get our game going at all in the second,” Stars coach Glen Gulutzan said. “I thought that they, certainly to a man, were better than us. That hasn’t happened to us a lot during the year.”
Eriksson Ek added another power play goal in the third, and Boldy hit an empty net late for Minnesota.
Oettinger, who was making his 66th career playoff start, finished with 23 saves for the Stars.
“I think we played pretty good today,” Eriksson Ek said. “Next game is a new game, so we just have to do it over and over, every game. We know they’re probably not the happiest with that game, so it’s probably going to be hard the next game.”
Game 2 is Monday night, scheduled for 8:30 p.m. in Dallas.
Briefly
In addition to Hughes’ return to the lineup, the Wild defense was at full strength for the first time since an April 4 game in Ottawa when Zach Bogosian suffered a lower body injury. The veteran blueliner had missed the regular season’s final six games but skated with the team in their last two practices and was ready to go for the playoff opener…Dallas got defenseman Miro Heiskanen back for Game 1 after he missed the final three regular season games with a lower body injury. They remain without forward Roope Hintz, who has played just one game since the Olympic break while dealing with a lower body ailment of his own.