But in the end, this team suffered through the same problems that waylaid them all season long. The Wild were flat and easily dominated by the Dallas Stars on home ice.
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The Stars now lead the best-of-seven series by a three-games-to-one margin, with Game Five set for tomorrow night in Dallas at 8:30 P-M. “Games 2, 3, 4 and 5, I’ve liked”, Wild interim coach John Torchetti said.
“Desperation, that’s what we need”, Wild center Erik Haula said.
Power play comes to life Dallas ranked fourth in power play success rate during the regular season at 22.1%, so their 1 for 13 effort through the first three games of the series was a cause for concern coming into Game 4. Granlund had a goal and an assist. That outcome would force owner Craig Leipold to make tough decisions about his organization’s direction and future, starting with the fate of General Manager Chuck Fletcher.
Game two came along, and Seguin was injected back into the lineup. The Wild outshot the Stars 14-2 and had a 6-on-4 advantage for the final 84 seconds, after they pulled Dubnyk and Antoine Roussel of Dallas was whistled for high-sticking.
This is probably the end of the series for the Wild.
The game was decided on special teams.
But time in the penalty box against a team with the scoring power of the Stars will hurt you eventually.
After a 4-0 blowout loss in Game 1, the Wild lost 2-1 in Game 2 and 3-2 in Game 4.
The Minnesota Wild wanted a chance to send their first-round series with the Dallas Stars back to the Twin Cities for Game 6 on Sunday.
“When we really focus and get to our game, and play fast, we’ve shown that we’re extremely hard to play against”, goalie Devan Dubnyk said. “And I think we can clean it up a bit in the defensive zone”.
Jason Spezza scored the go-ahead goal off his skate with 70 seconds left in the period, and the Wild finished the second down 3-2. Even the normally stoic Koivu displayed a burst of emotion after his power-play goal in the third period, throwing his body against the glass in celebration.
That’s what happens when a team leaves the door open.
The last time Antti Niemi started a playoff game, he was between the pipes for the San Jose Sharks facing the Los Angeles Kings in Game 7 of the 2014 opening round. Any scenario was plausible – good, bad or in between. The building was electric.
Dallas went into the intermission with fresh energy and just 20 minutes away from the chance to close the series on home ice.
Wild: Jordan Schroeder popped in the rebound off of a Ryan Suter shot at 5:16 of the first period.
Through the first three-and-a-half games of their first round playoff series with the top-seeded Dallas Stars, the Wild had survived, despite taking too many penalties. Niederreiter scored his first of the series 50 seconds later to give the Wild back the lead at 3-2. Without a couple of great efforts from their strongest players (Niederreiter, Coyle), this game would’ve been more out-of-reach. On a 2-on-1 with Jason Zucker, Coyle corralled and then controlled a bouncing puck as he closed on Niemi. It is frustrating to see Nichushkin, who’s so loaded with potential, being limited in a playoff game, but unfortunately the adjustments that were made pushed him down.
It wasn’t enough though. Their penalty kill was leaky.
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That won’t cut it against elite teams that smell blood.
