Everyone knew the Minnesota Wild and Dallas Stars would battle hard for Game 5, but no one could have scripted the back and forth that was the Wild’s 5-4 overtime win over the Stars. Minnesota scored its first goal of the series in the third period Saturday night and was buzzing for the equalizer in the waning moments, displaying an offensive spark that it hopes to carry over into Game 3. “The other night, when we were down 2-0 [in Game 3], he made that big blocker save when they could have went up 3-0, and we came back to win the game”.
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Jason Spezza and Alex Goligoski scored goals 28 apart nearly midway through the third period, giving the Stars their first lead on the game.
Jason Pominville had one last gasp for the Wild, making it a one-goal game once again with less than five minutes left. Those goals account for his two points in the five games, an especially low number for a player who haunted the Wild during playoff runs with the Chicago Blackhawks each of the past three seasons.
“You just stick to your game plan”.
Most of the current Stars weren’t even teenagers then, let alone on the team.
At the end of a sleepy second period, with the Wild and their fans seeming more than ready for summer vacation, Benn put the Stars in front 4-0 on his top-shelf shot with 24 seconds remaining until the break. “That’s what happened.” Pominville has scored three times in the past two games after going 13 contests without a tally. “We’ve got to bring our best up there”.
If they want to win tonight and head back to Dallas with their first playoff series win since 2008, they have to cut back on the mistakes today.
Having a second chance to close out their Western Conference Quarterfinal series and looking to avert the “anything goes” nature of a seventh game, Lindy Ruff’s Dallas Stars are on the road to take on John Torchetti’s Minnesota Wild in St. Paul on Sunday afternoon.
The Wild are in one of the toughest positions to be in. 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.
Perhaps his best accomplishment came Friday night when he netted the game-tying and overtime winning goals.
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Tyler Seguin (Achilles laceration) remains out for Dallas, as does Zach Parise (back) for Minnesota. It’s the first time a team won a Stanley Cup playoff game with 11 shots since the Capitals beat Ottawa in 1998, and that total is the fewest shots for the Flyers history in the regular season and playoffs. They now have a team that is good enough to make the playoffs but probably aren’t real contenders unless they got hot at the right time in the playoffs.
