The Stars\u2019 4-3 victory<\/a> was another thrilling, instant classic in a matchup of Western Conference heavyweights, and it could very well could swing this best-of-seven series. Dallas\u2019 lead is now 2-1, but it feels like more, doesn\u2019t it? As much as coach John Hynes would tell his team it\u2019s the same whether you win 6-1 or in lose in triple OT (it\u2019s just one game), this one felt much harder to stomach.<\/p>\n\u201cI think right after, yeah, because it felt like it was so close,\u201d Wallstedt said. \u201cIt felt like we were right there.\u201d<\/p>\n
They were.<\/p>\n
The Wild were handed this one on a silver platter. It was there for the taking. They had rallied from a 2-0 deficit, with Matt Boldy\u2019s gutsy playmaking \u2014 after he was temporarily pulled by a concussion spotter \u2014 close to becoming forever part of Wild lore. Marcus Foligno\u2019s bloody face after his tussle with Matt Duchene would have been put on T-shirts. The Wild held the Stars to just two shots over a 33-minute period. They had SEVEN power plays, including two in overtime. They went 1-for-7.<\/p>\n
The puck was on the stick of the best player in franchise history, Kirill Kaprizov, who hit the post with 3:57 left in the first overtime. Nobody has scored more OT winners here than him, but his snap shot from 20 feet away clanked harmlessly off the post.<\/p>\n
\u201cMisses by an inch,\u201d Wallstedt said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis series isn\u2019t over,\u201d Quinn Hughes said.<\/p>\n
No, it\u2019s not. But this result now forces the Wild into a must-win Game 4 Saturday. How this group responds will tell us whether it\u2019s actually different or not, whether there actually is something special in it. Was the 12:54 a.m. game-winning goal by Johnston just the latest adversity for the Wild to overcome or the time of death on this season?<\/p>\n
This is the best, deepest, most star-studded roster the Wild have ever assembled. They became the talk of the hockey world when they acquired Hughes, the former Norris Trophy winner, in mid-December. All of a sudden, a franchise that hadn\u2019t won a playoff series in a decade was catapulted into not just a serious playoff team, but a Stanley Cup contender.<\/p>\n
Teams lose two straight in a series often. But when you have the Wild\u2019s history, it\u2019s understandable that their passionate and patient fan base might panic, and wonder:<\/p>\n
How does losing 38-year-old Mats Zuccarello, as talented as he is, lead the top-five power play into a massive funk, 1-for-11 in its last two games?
\nAs deep as the Wild are, how come it\u2019s difficult to find the right replacement to put with Kaprizov, who had just two shots on goal and a 42-percent xG share in Game 3.
\nWho had Bobby Brink penciled in as top line right wing and on PP1 on their bingo card?<\/p>\n
Marcus Foligno said after Game 2 the Stars \u201ccan\u2019t hang\u201d with the Wild at 5-on-5, offering some unnecessary bulletin board material, especially when the alternate captain hasn\u2019t been a real factor in the series so far. Then Minnesota went out and got beat by special teams. It gave up three power play goals, including the winner. The power play fizzled when it was needed the most.<\/p>\n
Is there frustration building?<\/p>\n
\u201cAbsolutely none. No frustration,\u201d Boldy said. \u201cWe had our chances, we had our looks. When they come, they come. No frustration there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Boldy was bullish.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re still confident in our group,\u201d he said. \u201cThat was a heck of a hockey game. Back and forth, lot of chances, goals, saves, everything. It\u2019s a long series. We were up 2-1 last year too. This whole narrative that we\u2019re frustrated and all this, that\u2019s not true. We\u2019re still confident in our group. Let\u2019s nip that in the bud now because it\u2019s made up.\u201d<\/p>\n
This was a terrific hockey game, and the building was rocking. \u201cI mean, it\u2019s 1 in the morning, and I don\u2019t think anyone left the game,\u201d Hughes said. \u201cJust special to be a part of, try to take it in.\u201d<\/p>\n
Good teams lose OT games in heartbreaking fashion. Cup champions do too. So nobody is saying this series is over. The Wild, buried by some after winning just four of their first 12 games, showed a lot of character in turning their season around after captain Jared Spurgeon led a team meeting<\/a>. There\u2019s a lot of gamers in that room. President of hockey operations and GM Bill Guerin has seen a different maturity in this group, one hardened by previous playoff scars.<\/p>\nWell, now is the time to show it. Guerin has also said the franchise is in more of a \u201cwin-now\u201d mode than ever before, so any first round defeat \u2014 regardless of how good the opponent is, regardless of the fairness of the playoff format \u2014 is going to sting harder than any other. That\u2019s the beauty of having really high expectations. If the Wild lose this series, this double OT loss will haunt them for a long time.<\/p>\n
If they win the Stanley Cup, it very well could be a turning point, a fork in the road moment.<\/p>\n
The good news for the Wild is there are two off days before the next game, so they can get a \u201creset,\u201d as Hynes put it. They can flush this one away, then go to work. They\u2019ll need to make adjustments to their power play. They need to figure out who is on their top line if Zuccarello (upper body injury) misses a third straight game.<\/p>\n
They need more from Kaprizov. They need Marcus Foligno to walk the walk after all his talk. They need Hughes, who played nearly 44 minutes Wednesday, to be the kind of x-factor everyone expected.<\/p>\n
And Hughes is betting on this group.<\/p>\n
\u201cI mean, we\u2019re going to be extremely urgent,\u201d Hughes said. \u201cI think we\u2019ve played three really good playoff games so far. You know I like our game. Not for one second am I questioning how the next game\u2019s going to go, we\u2019re going to be ready to go.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ST. PAUL, Minn \u2014 Jesper Wallstedt sat back in his dressing room stall, trying to process what had…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":601679,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[4828,385,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-601678","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-minnesota-wild","9":"tag-nhl","10":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601678","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=601678"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601678\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/601679"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=601678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=601678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=601678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}