Jared Spurgeon scored two of the Minnesota Wild’s four third-period goals on Sunday in Game 6 against the Dallas Stars and the Wild came within a fraction of an inch of tying it with 34 seconds remaining when Nino Niederreiter whacked at a loose puck in the crease.
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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.
With the series win, the Dallas Stars move along to the next round, keeping their season alive as they try to win their first Stanley Cup since 1999.
Led by the “New Triplets”, the Dallas Stars are a fast-and-furious squad that have quickly become the darlings of the hockey world this season. “We could have just sat back and let it be a 4-0 game but we clawed our way back”. It was Benn’s third goal and seventh point of the series.
Through the first 40 minutes, it was total domination.
It was 3-0 after a period thanks to a seeing-eye wrist shot by Sharp with less than two minutes left in the first.
The team’s game operations crew did a fantastic job Sunday of paying tribute to Prince, the legendary Minneapolis pop icon who passed away last week at the age of 57.
Then, the Wild finally came to play in the third period. They made a hockey game thrilling, but only after playing lethargically enough to get booed off the ice after two periods.
The Stars allowed six or more goals a league-leading nine times this season.
“The way the guys battled in here is huge of us”, Spurgeon said after the game.
“We went down to the wire and had nothing to lose”, Charlie Coyle said. The Stars need to ramp up their game, and quickly, if they hope to survive the next round.
The main reason Game 1 was so abysmal was because three of the four Dallas goals were the results of Minnesota turnovers. And while he was hardly the only guilty party in that third period meltdown, there was a shakiness to his game that made a Minnesota comeback seem inevitable.
The 2-1 lead he preserved was razor thin. Some say they only did it for the ratings, but Dallas let in yet another goal to reduce their pudgy lead to merely one as it looked like there was nothing Ruff could do to stop the bleeding. At least he’s making it for Game 1 of the second round and not Game 7 of the first. They outscored the opposition 97-76 in the third period, and that’s miles ahead of being outscored 74-101 in the third period last season.
NOTES: The Wild scratched LW Ryan Carter, C Zac Dalpe, C Grayson Downing, D Christian Folin, RW Justin Fontaine, C Tyler Graovac, G Steve Michalek, RW Zack Mitchell, D Zach Palmquist, LW Zach Parise (back), D Mike Reilly, D Tyson Strachan, LW Thomas Vanek (upper body) and D Hunter Warner…. This was all about heart and will and desire.
That has been their pattern for too long.
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Their inconsistency in this game, and in the series, is bound to raise questions about the future of several members of the organization. Relax, ‘ ” Torchetti said of Koivu’s reaction. 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.
