After outplaying the Dallas Stars in Game 3, the Minnesota Wild came into Wednesday’s matchup not wanting to change a thing. Dallas, on the other hand, was looking to regain the defensive composure that had delivered them wins in Games 1 & 2.
To spark the Stars defense, Lindy Ruff brought in second netminder Antti Niemi, who hadn’t played since their final regular season game on Apr. 9. His regular season stats, a 0.905 save percentage and a 2.67 goals against average, weren’t much different than Kari Lehtonen’s, but it was clear that some sort of wakeup call was necessary. And it worked, too.
While the Wild came out of the gates hot, the Stars killed off the first penalty just four minutes in, and used that mentality to fuel their defensive game throughout.
For both clubs, special teams were the biggest story.
Before tonight, the Stars had only cashed in on 1-of-13 power play opportunities, a 7.7 percent success rate. For a Wild team that was struggling on offense, having a successful penalty kill helped them to victory in Game 3, as the Stars went 0-for-2.
In fact, if they had had the same kind of success tonight, they could’ve run away with the win. The Stars scored on both man advantage opportunities they had – and each one was a game-tying goal.
And it wasn’t just the power play that came up big; the Dallas penalty kill had plenty of time to shine. After the Alex Goligoski hooking penalty in the first, they also killed off a Jamie Benn penalty in the second.
Then, as the game wound down and the Wild had pulled Devan Dubnyk for the extra attacker, Antoine Roussel took a high-sticking double minor with just 1:24 left in the period.
This gave Minnesota a two-man advantage for what was the most dangerous part of the game, but the Stars stayed calm. While there were some good looks for the Wild, Dallas was able to make some timely clears and run down the clock for the win.
Despite all of that insanity, Stars only allowed 3 shots on goal in the final 11 minutes.
— Brandon Worley (@brandonworley) April 21, 2016
The Stars are known for playing a high event game, but even in the loss on Monday, the shot total peaked at 25. Tonight Niemi stopped 28 of 30, helped in large part by the 16 blocked shots of the skaters in front of him.
It looks likely that the Stars will wrap up this series as they head back to Dallas on Friday, but if they want to stay on track, they’ll need more from their captain. While Jamie Benn is leading the team in playoff points, he hasn’t been able to generate much offense in the last two games.
On Monday, he had zero shots on goal, though still picked up an assist on a Patrick Sharp tally. Then again Wednesday night, he was held to a single shot, but picked up another assist on Jason Spezza’s game winner.
For the Stars to close this series out with confidence, they’ll need to get more out of Benn.
However, the third and fourth lines, especially those players who make up the second power play unit for the Stars, have been humming along. Ales Hemsky was able to get a monkey off his back tonight, one that had been a long time coming.
Ales Hemsky's goal was his first in the playoffs since June 14, 2006 – Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final. 9 years and 10 months ago.
— Josh Bogorad (@JoshBogorad) April 21, 2016
Look for him, Radek Faksa, Colton Sceviour, and Patrick Eaves to continue to challenge the Wild at every turn.
For the Wild, things now look dire, despite continued excellent play from a few key forwards. Just like on Monday, Erik Haula was dangerous, and he and Nino Niederreiter assisted on Jason Pominville’s opening goal of the game. While Charlie Coyle was also able to find the back of the net, the Wild aren’t getting enough out of their forward corps.
If they want to get back in it, they’ll need Mikko Koivu and Mikael Granlund to start burying chances, too.
Still, Dallas has a great record at home this year (28-11-2, plus two playoff wins), and while the Wild have been good at staving off elimination in the past, it’ll be difficult to do in the Lone Star State.
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