ST. PAUL. Minn. \u2014 The insolent puck just sat there, about a foot outside of the Dallas Stars crease, taunting the three men converging on it midway through the third period of a one-goal game. Dallas goaltender Jake Oettinger had been pulled too far to his left by the two-on-one he had just stopped. He lunged for the puck, but it was out of reach. The Minnesota Wild\u2019s Matt Boldy, who had just tucked it into Oettinger\u2019s pads on the rebound of that two-on-one, desperately reached back for it, trying to will it into the yawning net, but merely waved the blade of his stick over it, tantalizingly close to a shorthanded goal that would have all but iced the game.<\/p>\n
And then there was Dallas forward Matt Duchene, who had looked on helplessly as the two-on-one materialized beyond his reach. Duchene missed his first chance to tie up Boldy, overskating his way into the crease. And there sat the puck. For a moment. For an eternity.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour heart goes in your throat for a second,\u201d Duchene said. \u201cIt\u2019s a \u2018holy s\u2014\u2018 moment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Just one of many on this fast, physical, furious night that didn\u2019t end until morning.<\/p>\n
Duchene finally did clear that puck, beating Boldy to it by a whisper. Fifty-nine seconds later, he scored at the other end of the ice, burying a Mikko Rantanen feed for a game-tying power-play goal. Ah, but the night was only beginning. And the hearts of the Stars, the Wild and the 19,244 raucous fans at Grand Casino Arena didn\u2019t leave their throats until a few ticks before 1 a.m. CT, when Wyatt Johnston \u2014 making himself at home in Joe Pavelski\u2019s old office \u2014 tipped in a Miro Heiskanen shot for a power-play goal at 12:10 of the second overtime, giving the Stars a 4-3 win<\/a> and a 2-1 lead in a marquee first-round series that\u2019s really starting to live up to the hype.<\/p>\n The whole affair was a gloriously agonizing exercise, as only the Stanley Cup playoffs can be. Duchene said he had his head down and was squinting out of one eye, barely able to look, as Radek Faksa killed off about a minute of a penalty late in the first overtime after his stick shattered blocking a shot. Faksa had to summon all his mental strength not to panic when that stick broke, with the bench and fresh lumber seemingly miles away. Dallas coach Glen Gulutzan might have looked calm, never a hair out of place, but he said he felt the full weight of the moment throughout \u2014 the stress of each penalty kill, the breath-catch on every shot against, the angst of every missed scoring chance. And during the two overtime intermissions, Jason Robertson didn\u2019t even know what he was eating or drinking but surely could have used a bit of citrus.<\/p>\n Heck, even in the visitors locker room after the game, players were still trying to figure out what happened. Injured Tyler Seguin and some of the scratches and Black Aces were in one corner of the room, asking who actually scored the game-winner.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s crazy,\u201d Robertson said, sweat still streaming down his face. \u201cWe\u2019re playing at 1 o\u2019clock. These 8:50 games are tough.\u201d<\/p>\n The Stars: They\u2019re just like us.<\/p>\n It\u2019s all laughs and smiles now, of course. Now that it\u2019s over. Now that the Stars won. But had they lost, had the penalty kill not valiantly staved off three Wild power plays in the third period and another two in overtime, had Boldy buried one of his 10 shot attempts, had Kirill Kaprizov hit the net instead of the post late in the first overtime, had any number of tiny moments like that loose puck in Oettinger\u2019s crease gone the other way, the Stars would be where the Wild are now \u2014 trailing the series and kicking themselves.<\/p>\n A blown 2-0 lead. Another spate of inexcusable offensive-zone penalties. Four players \u2014 Jamie Benn. Lian Bichsel, Tyler Myers and Sam Steel \u2014 burned by Boldy on one spectacular play that set up a Joel Eriksson Ek goal. Faksa sending a puck through the crease behind Jesper Wallstedt in the second overtime. There were so many chances for Dallas to lose this game, to lose control of the series.<\/p>\n But their special teams wouldn\u2019t allow it. The penalty kill kept them alive, and the power play put it away. It\u2019s rare for special teams to factor in so greatly in overtime, but in a heavy and heavily officiated game that still somehow left both teams fuming about missed calls (Dallas had eight power plays, Minnesota seven), both teams had two power plays after regulation. Dallas killed both and Minnesota could only kill one, with Danila Yurov\u2019s delay of game for sending the puck into the crowd proving devastatingly costly.<\/p>\n Dallas is loaded with high-end players, and its big three \u2014 Rantanen, Robertson and Johnston \u2014 each scored. But it was Heiskanen, Esa Lindell and the unsung scrappy penalty-killing forwards like Faksa, rookie Arttu Hyry and Oskar B\u00e4ck, who were the heroes of Game 3.<\/p>\n