When Jared Spurgeon scored his second power play goal at 8:39 of the third period to make it 4-3, Wild fans were delirious with excitement, dreaming of an improbable comeback.
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Mikko Koivu redirected Ryan Suter’s shot from the left point 4:55 into overtime and the Minnesota Wild beat the Dallas Stars 5-4 Friday night to stay alive in their first-round series.
The Stars trailed 2-1 after two, but Benn tied it 1:00 into the third with his third goal of the series.
The Stars move on to face the victor of the Chicago-St. Only Washington (29) won more home games during the regular season than Dallas (28). Dallas fell behind by two goals early in the first period but recaptured the lead in the third period, with goals from Jamie Benn (1-0=1), Jason Spezza (1-0=1) and Alex Goligoski (1-0=1). Stars captain Jamie Benn tied the game one minute into the period to tie the game.
Through the first 40 minutes, it was total domination.
Granlund and Jordan Schroeder put the team up 2-0 in the first, but Stars defenseman Johnny Oduya sparked some life into his team with a goal two minutes left in the period.
His overall game is as good as it gets.
Then, as it has so often this season, the Stars’ defense made things interesting.
Fans became restless in the second period when the Wild failed to come out with more energy as their season rests at the bottom of a 3-0 hole. You’ve got to learn when not scoring, you’ve got to do other details of the game – faceoffs, blocked shots, hard on the wall, compete hard. Combine that with the fact that the Wild were outdone 41-24 in shots on goal, it says the Stars were generating more offense through puck possession than the Wild.
“We have to learn to be better in the third, but I know we have never been pressured like that by another team,” said center Jason Spezza, who had a goal and three assists.
Dallas seemed decidedly nonplussed following the disappointing outcome of Game 5.
Lehtonen got the job done Sunday afternoon, but he may have cost himself a Game 1 start in the process. But it’s just one of those games where it was back and forth. That almost fatal giveaway to Zucker in the crease with Dallas clinging to a 4-3 lead spoke to his resilience under pressure…and it wasn’t flattering.
Like he has all season, Stars coach Lindy Ruff has gone with both goalies in the playoffs.
The Islanders are into the second round of the play-offs for the first time since 1993. According to Michael Russo of the Star Tribune the Wild had a franchise record 34 blocked shots. This was easily their best stretch of the series.
Someone asked Koivu if he had ever scored two bigger goals.
At some point, if you’re beaten by a fluky goal every game, it no longer can be considered a fluke.
Minnesota would’ve entered the playoffs as a huge underdog against top-seeded Dallas even if Zach Parise and Thomas Vanek were healthy. The Stars brought it early.
Their inconsistency in this game, and in the series, is bound to raise questions about the future of several members of the organization.
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John Torchetti’s Wild hope their devil-may-care approach can keep producing unexpected success today. And players like Nate Prosser and Marco Scandella, who were trampled repeatedly in this series, could be jettisoned in favor of younger and hopefully smarter prospects.
