ST. PAUL, Minn. — While some contend that jinxes aren’t real, good omens definitely are.
Twelve years to the day after Nino Niederreiter’s Game 7 overtime goal in Denver gave the Minnesota Wild their first playoff series win in 11 years, the Wild advanced past the first round for the first time in … 11 years on Thursday night, rallying to beat the Dallas Stars 5-2 for a six-game series win.
After eight consecutive first-round exits, the Wild will get to play past Round 1 for the first time since beating the St. Louis Blues in the 2015 Western Conference quarterfinal.
“Obviously, it was nice to be on the other side of the handshake line this time,” Wild veteran Marcus Foligno said after the game.
Waiting in the wings are the Colorado Avalanche, the NHL’s best team from start to finish this season. The Wild went 2-1-1 against them during the regular season, with each team winning once in regulation and once in a shootout.
“You have to beat the best to get (to where you want),” captain Jared Spurgeon said.
Fittingly, in a season in which things were largely supposed to be different because of the winter’s blockbuster trade for a superstar defenseman, it was Quinn Hughes who scored two humongous goals in the victory.
Hughes’ game-winner came with 9:22 left when his shot toward the net ricocheted in off defenseman Ilya Lyubushkin’s right skate.
“There was a lot of traffic back there,” Hughes said. “I knew (Ryan Hartman) was going, and I was just trying to get it out to him with (Jake Oettinger) coming out so far on me. I’ve had, I feel like, a bunch of opportunities throughout the series where I kind of would have shot that or whatnot. I just kept that in the back of my mind that maybe one of these times, just chuck one backdoor and see what happens. That’s kind of what you saw there.”
Hughes also assisted on Vladimir Tarasenko’s goal, which came as an answer just 54 seconds after Mavrik Bourque’s goal had given the Stars a lead in the second. It was Tarasenko’s 50th career playoff goal.
Two Matt Boldy empty-netters put the game away — the first after Jamie Benn, who earlier in the series slew-footed and cross-checked Boldy in the head, coughed it up.
“When Bolds scored the (first) empty-net goal, you just take breath off, just phew, and it’s nice feeling because it’s tough you know when every year you’re going playoff and you can’t get first round,” superstar Kirill Kaprizov said. “This one feels pretty good, and I think somebody here play 12 years, somebody five, somebody six, seven and we never get first round done. It feels pretty good.”
Jesper Wallstedt made 22 saves to become the first rookie goalie in Wild history to win a playoff round. The loss ends Dallas’ season after three consecutive trips to the conference final.
“Obviously, this is massive for us, for the organization and for our fan base,” Wallstedt said. “We’ve just got to keep going. We know what the capabilities are within our team. We’re excited to go play Colorado.”
It is the first career series win as head coach for John Hynes.
“Really proud of the group,” Hynes said. “I mean, they’re such a pleasure to coach. I think that the way they went through the series, I just think they learned a lot about trying to get better and stronger. Tonight was another example of that. I thought we came out on our toes and ready to play. Great commitment the last two games with the shot blocking and defensive commitment. We got contributions throughout the lineup.”
The finale of an evenly matched series was a tight-checking, physical affair, with Minnesota once again doing a masterful job defending the Stars at even strength. The Wild outscored the Stars 14-4 at five-on-five in six games.
“We knew we were the better team,” defenseman Brock Faber said. “We just had to prove it, and that’s what we did.”
The Avs will be another animal, with the star power of Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar and Martin Necas. And the Wild look like they could be without stalwart defenseman Jonas Brodin for a bit.
But this was one impressive series win against the regular season’s third-best team (112 points). The Wild will head into the second round soaring with confidence.
Hughes’ first gives Wild early lead
With Grand Casino Arena coming off one loud pregame festivity culminated by future Hall of Famer and former Wild goalie Marc-Andre Fleury doing the “Let’s Play Hockey,” the Wild flew out of the gates and jumped out to a 1-0 lead, sparked by the fourth line.
Hughes, who entered the game with a playoff-high 47 stretch passes completed, took Nico Sturm’s pass at Minnesota’s end of the ice and headmanned it to Marcus Foligno at the far blue line. Foligno entered the zone and gave the puck back to Hughes as the trailer. The all-world defenseman toe-dragged to the middle of the ice, created a shooting lane and wristed it home for his first goal of the playoffs.
The last Wild defenseman to score in a potential series-clinching game was Spurgeon when he scored the overtime-forcing goal in Minnesota’s 2014 Game 7 win against Colorado.
The Wild could have made it 2-0 a few minutes later, but after Sturm set up Foligno for a shot at a wide-open net, Foligno seemed to freeze and got too cute, cutting to the middle on his backhand rather than elevating the puck into a yawning cage. Oettinger was able to cut the chance off.
“It was just terrible,” Foligno said. “I have to get my head up. You get a little taste of some skill, these fourth liners, and then you think you can dipsey doodle. I was trying to slide over to Sturm, and then I realized it was a little bit too late. I had Oettinger on his back. I was hoping that one didn’t bite us in the end, and it didn’t.”
That loomed large when Wyatt Johnston and Bourque scored in the second to give the Stars a 2-1 lead. Bourque’s goal was the first by a Stars player not named Johnston, Jason Robertson, Matt Duchene, Mikko Rantanen or Miro Heiskanen in the series and snapped the Stars’ five-on-five goal drought at 254 minutes, 1 second.
The power play swing
Just three minutes into the second period, with the Wild already up 1-0, they had a golden opportunity to take control of the game. Minnesota got a power play thanks to a Duchene cross-checking penalty. But the ensuing man advantage was one of the worst by the Wild in recent memory. No shots on goal. No whiffs of a quality scoring chance. They had a hard time even entering the zone and getting set up.
As a result, the Stars gained much-needed momentum. And when Dallas went on the power play a couple of minutes later, it wasted little time taking advantage. Johnston was in his office in the slot, and, despite being covered by Zach Bogosian, finished a feed from Rantanen to tie the game.
The Stars were 10-for-24 on the power play in the series. The Wild were 4-for-24, including 0-for-3 in Game 6.
Desperate times, desperate measures
The Stars have four forwards who have scored at least 40 goals in a season, so it wasn’t exactly ideal that they were looking to Michael Bunting to save their season. But with the five-on-five offense nonexistent and defensive-minded third-line center Arttu Hyry injured, Bunting — acquired at the trade deadline from the Nashville Predators — finally got into the Dallas lineup. Coach Glen Gulutzan loaded up his third line with nastiness, putting Bunting with captain Benn and Justin Hryckowian.
“He’s a very energetic player, he’s got a nose for the net and he provides us with some speed and tenacity,” Gulutzan said before the game. “Looking for all those things that he provides, that he brings as a pro to the game. One of the reasons, certainly, we acquired him. … I expect him to be flying around.”
And sure enough, Bunting’s aggressive, physical style paid dividends for Dallas. He threw a puck toward the net late in the second period, then went straight for the crease, tying up Brock Faber and allowing Bourque to corral the rebound off the end boards and knock in the go-ahead goal.
The Stars’ other major trade pickup, Tyler Myers, was in street clothes for Game 6 after a ghastly Game 5 performance in which at least two, if not three, Minnesota goals could be laid partially at his feet. Veteran Alex Petrovic, who played a significant depth role in Dallas’ last two runs to the Western Conference final, drew into the lineup and played with his usual partner, Lian Bichsel. Petrovic made an impact early, crunching Nick Foligno against the boards between the benches, leaving Foligno in considerable pain.
Eriksson Ek scare
Top Wild center Joel Eriksson Ek left 29 seconds into the third period after sliding awkwardly into the boards.
Eriksson Ek was skating up the ice in the Minnesota zone on his first shift of the third when he lost an edge and fell, his right leg banging into the boards. He was down for a minute before skating slowly off the ice with the help of a trainer and heading down the tunnel.
It gave a scare to Wild fans, but Eriksson Ek returned midway through the period. It will be interesting how Eriksson Ek feels in coming days, as the Wild can ill afford to lose arguably their most irreplaceable player — their top two-way center and part of the first power play and penalty kill.
Brodin sidelined
Brodin didn’t play and is considered day to day, Hynes said. The team’s shutdown left-shot defenseman got hurt blocking a shot in Game 5 and left American Airlines Center in Dallas on crutches and wearing a walking boot on his right leg. He had been on a pair with Spurgeon.
Asked if it was encouraging that Brodin was only day-to-day after the injury, Hynes didn’t go that far.
“I wouldn’t be encouraged yet,” Hynes said. “It’s really for today. It’s one of the things where guys get evaluated, and it’s a little bit of a moving target. Today, he’ll be out. But I’d classify him as day-to-day because as the day goes on or tomorrow, there could be an improvement or could be the same.”
The Wild went with the experience of 38-year-old Jeff Petry over rookie Daemon Hunt to take Brodin’s place. Jake Middleton moved up to play with his former partner in Spurgeon on the second pair, and Petry played with Bogosian, who played on his off side.
Petry has played in more than 1,000 NHL games but just nine with the Wild in the regular season since being acquired at the March trade deadline.
The Wild also made a lineup change up front, replacing Bobby Brink with Sturm. Sturm played center on the fourth line with Marcus and Nick Foligno.
Rantanen briefly taken out
With 5:49 left in the first period, Rantanen fell awkwardly after Marcus Foligno’s stick caught him high, and his head appeared to hit the ice after he landed on his left shoulder. Rantanen was slow to get up, but initially stayed on the bench before heading down the tunnel to the locker room.
He missed the rest of the first period but returned for the second, picking up the primary assist on Johnston’s power-play goal with a one-touch pass from below the goal line. Rantanen has a goal and six assists in the series, but like the rest of his teammates, almost all his damage was done on the power play. In five-on-five play, Rantanen has just one assist and entered the game with the worst expected-goals share on the Dallas roster.
Last year, Rantanen all but singlehandedly carried the Stars past the Avalanche in the first round, with three points in Game 5, four in Game 6 and four in Game 7, the latter including a single-period hat trick.