ST. PAUL, Minn. \u2014 The Stanley Cup playoffs\u2019 must-watch first-round series has had its first did-you-watch-that game.<\/p>\n
Wyatt Johnston scored in double overtime at 12:54 a.m. on Thursday morning to give the Dallas Stars a 4-3 win and 2-1 series lead over the Minnesota Wild going into Saturday afternoon\u2019s Game 4 between the Central Division heavyweights and Stanley Cup contenders.<\/p>\n
If Minnesota loses this series, it\u2019ll be thinking all summer about the five power plays it had in the third period and overtime in Game 3.<\/p>\n
After rallying from a 2-0 deficit on goals by Marcus Johansson, Joel Eriksson Ek and Michael McCarron, the Wild had two chances to turn a 3-2 lead into a 4-2 lead on early-third-period power plays, only to fail miserably.<\/p>\n
They then had three power plays to break a 3-3 tie \u2014 two in overtime \u2014 after Matt Duchene scored a power-play goal to tie it. That came after Duchene, on the same shift, denied Matt Boldy a shorthanded goal with a hustling backcheck and stick check.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour heart goes in your throat,\u201d Duchene said of his goal-saving backcheck. \u201cIt\u2019s a \u2018holy s\u2014\u2019 moment, for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Wild drew two power plays in the first overtime, one that carried into the second, and the closest they came to scoring was Kirill Kaprizov hitting the post.<\/p>\n
So you just knew what was going to happen when Dallas earned a second consecutive power play after dead-tired rookie Danila Yurov airmailed a puck high into the stands in double overtime.<\/p>\n
On the ensuing power play, Johnston scored his second career overtime winner by extending his stick and redirecting Miro Heiskanen\u2019s twice-deflected shot past Jesper Wallstedt, sending what had been a loud, anxious crowd, on its feet throughout both overtimes, home disenchanted.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt hit Moose\u2019s finger first,\u201d Wallstedt said of Marcus Foligno. \u201cHe\u2019s just trying to do his job and block it. I still had a good sight on it and was going to grab it, and then it goes off of Johnston\u2019s blade and then his shaft and then over my shoulder. That\u2019s what happens.\u201d<\/p>\n
When a best-of-seven series is tied 1-1, the winner of Game 3 holds an all-time series record of 245-124 (.664).<\/p>\n
\u201cWhether we were 4-for-4 on the power play tonight or 0-for-whatever we were, that doesn\u2019t change how we have to approach the next game,\u201d Quinn Hughes said of the Wild\u2019s 1-for-7 power play. \u201cWe\u2019re gonna need it again. And obviously felt like we had our looks to be the difference and just didn\u2019t come.\u201d<\/p>\n
As far as Wild playoff clunkers go, this looked like it was going to be classic from the outset.<\/p>\n
The game ops brought the electricity during one heck of a hype-up pregame that had the crowd buzzing. Minnesota Vikings star Justin Jefferson brought it during one electric \u201cLet\u2019s Play Hockey\u201d that had the crowd erupting.<\/p>\n
But in just 85 seconds, the Stars silenced the crowd with a Mikko Rantanen power-play goal after one of the Wild\u2019s most gentlemanly, least penalized players ever, Jonas Brodin, was whistled for tripping.<\/p>\n
By the 13:48 mark, it was 2-0 Dallas, with the crowd growing even more tense as Boldy was in the trainer\u2019s room after being plunked on the back of the head by Stars captain Jamie Benn\u2019s stick.<\/p>\n
After Johansson cut the deficit in half late in the first, Boldy reemerged in the second and put forth a highlight-reel shift to help the Wild tie the game five minutes in. He weaved through the neutral zone, split three Stars defenders between the circles and laid the puck on a tee for an Eriksson Ek goal into a gaping net.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust trying to make a play,\u201d Boldy said. \u201cI didn\u2019t think I had a shot, so just tried to get around them. Ek did a great job getting open.\u201d<\/p>\n
But after McCarron gave the Wild a 3-2 lead seconds after they had killed consecutive minors, including a five-on-three, they had two golden opportunities to extend their lead to on power plays, and the Stars\u2019 penalty kill extinguished both.<\/p>\n
Johnston\u2019s goal came during his 30 minutes, 12 seconds of ice time, most amongst Stars forwards. Hughes logged 43:47, while Heiskanen logged 43:05.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you win 6-1 or lose in triple overtime, it\u2019s the same, and it\u2019s going to be a long series for a reason,\u201d McCarron said. \u201cAnd right now, it seems like it\u2019s neck and neck between the two.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018Tons of penalties\u2019<\/p>\n
When Boldy\u2019s clearing attempt during a Wild penalty kill soared over the neutral zone, over the offensive zone, over Jake Oettinger and over the glass from 180 feet away, it looked like it would spell disaster for the Wild.<\/p>\n
Instead, it turned into a nightmare for Dallas.<\/p>\n
Boldy\u2019s delay-of-game penalty late in the second period \u2014 with Ryan Hartman already in the box for cross-checking Radek Faksa \u2014 gave the Stars 41 seconds of a five-on-three power play. The Wild penalty kill stood firm, though, as Jake Middleton won a puck battle with Duchene in the corner to get a critical clear.<\/p>\n
Then, just as the clock ticked down on Boldy\u2019s penalty, Jared Spurgeon beat Dallas\u2019 Mavrik Bourque to a puck behind the net and nudged it to Brodin, who found Nick Foligno for the outlet pass, while McCarron trucked his way up the middle of the ice. Foligno found him in stride at center ice, and McCarron sniped a shot through a Thomas Harley screen to Oettinger\u2019s blocker side \u2014 the fourth such Minnesota goal in the last two games \u2014 to give Minnesota a 3-2 lead and send the home crowd into a tizzy.<\/p>\n
Still, the Wild were hardly celebrating their penalty kill. One of the league\u2019s most disciplined teams in the regular season, Minnesota gave Dallas eight power plays, and the Stars scored on three of them.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been tons of penalties on both sides,\u201d McCarron said. \u201cFirst round, sometimes it\u2019s like that. The refs are amped up just like us and maybe trigger-happy. But at the same time, I mean, not ideal. They got three power-play goals, and it\u2019s probably the difference in the game.<\/p>\n
\u201cTaking a lot of minors right now. We\u2019ve talked about it. We\u2019re gonna continue to harp on it, and hopefully this is a lesson for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Quieting the crowd early<\/p>\n
The Stars know well how raucous Grand Casino Arena can get, and were just hoping to weather the storm early on. They did one better, with Rantanen\u2019s early power-play goal quieting the home crowd almost immediately.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s always (like that on) home ice, everybody\u2019s really excited to play in front of their fans,\u201d Rantanen said before the game. \u201cThey\u2019re going to be really humming at the start, so we\u2019ve got to match the intensity, the physicality. \u2026 It\u2019s about executing under pressure.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dallas did. Minnesota didn\u2019t. An uncharacteristic offensive-zone tripping penalty by Brodin \u2014 essentially shoving Sam Steel to the ice along the boards \u2014 left the Wild shorthanded, and the Stars didn\u2019t waste any time. Jason Robertson caught Brock Faber flat-footed as he streaked down the left wing, and Rantanen blew past Boldy on the other side. Robertson hit the net-crashing Rantanen with a perfect pass, and the big Finn chipped it past Wallstedt for the early lead.<\/p>\n
Talk the talk, but not walk the walk<\/p>\n
Marcus Foligno gave the Stars bulletin board material after the Wild\u2019s Game 2 loss in Dallas by saying that the Stars can\u2019t \u201chang\u201d with the Wild at five-on-five and thus try to goad them into power plays.<\/p>\n
Well, Foligno has not had a good series at five-on-five, and that continued in the first period Wednesday, when he got the puck in the slot and instead of turning and putting it on net, sent a sloppy pass a few feet in front of him toward a surprised McCarron.<\/p>\n
Duchene picked it off to trigger a two-on-one with Robertson, who ripped home his third goal of the series for a 2-0 lead.<\/p>\n
To the dismay of the crowd, the goal came after Benn\u2019s hit to the back of Boldy\u2019s head went uncalled, same as a Benn high-stick to Yurov\u2019s face shortly before.<\/p>\n
Robertson did take a penalty late in the period that led to a Wild power play. The No. 1 unit, without Boldy and Mats Zuccarello, was a mess, but the second unit came out and cut the deficit in half when Bobby Brink recorded his first career playoff point by setting up Johansson\u2019s first goal in 11 playoff games and 17th of his career.<\/p>\n
Zuccarello, Trenin and more injuries<\/p>\n
The Wild entered the game already without Zuccarello and Yakov Trenin, who were considered game-time decisions with upper-body injuries. Zuccarello missed his second straight game (after receiving a Game 1 elbow to the face from Tyler Myers) and Trenin his first following an open-ice hit by Colin Blackwell in Game 2.<\/p>\n
Brink and Nico Sturm played in their place.<\/p>\n
Then in the first period, the Wild looked like they had lost Boldy.<\/p>\n
Boldy was in the slot in his own zone, turning his body in an attempt to block a shot when Benn came flying across, his stick making contact and knocking Boldy to the ice. Boldy was briefly checked out by the Wild training staff and headed to the bench and down the tunnel after, he said, the concussion spotter pulled him. Before that, he appeared to show the referee a video clip on an iPad of the play. Wild coach John Hynes had an animated conversation with the referees, too.<\/p>\n
There was no penalty on the play.<\/p>\n
Foligno had an injury scare, as well. Late in the second period, he went down to block a shot on the penalty kill, taking a puck off the leg. But Duchene fell on top of him, and a bloodied Foligno laid on the ice for a few moments. Duchene came back and took a swing at Foligno, who was ready to fight. Foligno tossed off his glove and helmet as he left the ice and headed to the dressing room. The veteran winger did return for the start of the third period, but the refs didn\u2019t know why Foligno\u2019s face was bloody. They called a major so they could review it, then rescinded the penalty on Duchene.<\/p>\n
The Wild have Black Aces Hunter Haight, Ben Jones and Matt Kiersted practicing with the big club just in case they\u2019re needed in the playoffs.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we did was we just had some guys come over that, you know, they sit in the meetings. They have an idea what\u2019s going on, skate with the guys,\u201d Hynes said. \u201cSo it\u2019s more not that they\u2019re going to come in the lineup tonight, but it\u2019s more to get them up to date with meetings and what\u2019s going on with the series. I think it\u2019s important for them, if they\u2019re called upon.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ST. PAUL, Minn. \u2014 The Stanley Cup playoffs\u2019 must-watch first-round series has had its first did-you-watch-that game. Wyatt…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":601360,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[4825,4828,385,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-601359","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-dallas-stars","9":"tag-minnesota-wild","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601359","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=601359"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601359\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/601360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=601359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=601359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=601359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}