Through the first two games in this series against the Minnesota Wild, something was missing.
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The Wild, in the middle of a playoff run (currently down 2-3 against the Dallas Stars in the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals), dedicated a portion of their arena to the Minneapolis born musician by featuring his logo over a section of seats, right next to the state of Minnesota.
The Wild entered the third period down 4-0, but then managed to score three straight goals in the final frame.
The Wild forced overtime when Koivu went top shelf for the tying goal. When the Wild finally ramped up the intensity in the third period, they caught the Stars on their heels.
Then lady luck intervened for Dallas with a freakish goal for Alex Goligoski, a seemingly soft wrister from the point struck bodies in front of the net, causing Dubnyk to lose sight of the puck that had found its way between his skates.
The Wild cheated themselves out of a Game 6 win by coming out of the gates with all the drive and passion you’d expect from an intra-squad scrimmage. Niemi is slated to start in Game Five in Dallas.
Chris Tierney and Matt Nieto scored early goals and Joe Pavelski got another late score for the Sharks, who stared down the demons of their past playoff failures against Los Angeles and advanced to the second round for just the second time since 2011.
Goals by Jared Spurgeon and Jonas Brodin 16 seconds apart put the Wild on the board, making it a 4-2 game. The Stars goaltending woes have clearly surfaced as coach Lindy Ruff has the unenviable task of selecting which goalie to play. The momentum was on the side of the Wild, and it seemed that even the most hard-line skeptics were starting to move to the optimist side and believe that the Wild might steal the series win from the Stars. It was Klingberg’s first goal of the playoffs, but his name is familiar to the Wild.
The pressure is now on the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Capitals, who led the series 3-0 before Neuvirth replaced Steve Mason in goal for Philadelphia. Not only did he have those two goals, but aside from his clearing gaffe, he was buzzing all game, working quite well as a trigger man for Granlund.
A what-the-heck wrist shot from Minnesota-born, former Gophers defenseman Alex Goligoski. As Dubnyk turned to try and locate it, he kicked it into his own net and the lead was back to two goals.
It lasted less than seven minutes until Jason Spezza, matching Benn in the clutch goal department, emerged from behind the net and whipped a shot into the far corner – 3-3. Our fans, I’m sorry we didn’t get the win but they revved it up, I’ll tell you.
“I think there was 4:20 left, and I said, ‘Mikko, let’s pull the goalie”.
It was the seventh consecutive playoff overtime loss for Florida, a streak beginning with the final game of the 1996 Stanley Cup final against Colorado.
The Wild gave up the game’s first goal less than six minutes in because of two infractions, one on Charlie Coyle and one on Marco Scandella. The only reason these stats are close as they are, is due to the massive effort given by the Wild in the third period. Jamie Benn added another stab when he made it 4-0 in the second. “I don’t know. I just worry about how you play the game. Games 2, 3, 4 and 5, I’ve liked”, Wild interim coach John Torchetti said.
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They also opened the game with a purple light show and held a moment of silence before the game.
