ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – Jason Pominville had two goals and an assist and Minnesota roared back from an early two-goal deficit to slice Dallas’ lead in the Western Conference quarterfinals to 2-1.
Advertisement
Trailing 2-0 in the series and 2-0 in Game 3 before it was five minutes old, Minnesota rallied with a furious five-goal burst that showcased puck possession and objective missing for weeks. Ales Hemsky also scored, and Antti Niemi had 28 saves in his first playoff start for the Stars, who were the top seed in the West.
In Game 3, the Wild played more physical, were stronger on the puck and opportunistic with their scoring chances after failing to generate much of anything in two losses at American Airlines Center in Dallas. The Wild demonstrated their value in the first period, playing the kind of physical hockey that John Torchetti wanted his team playing against the sublimely skilled Stars. “We’re just going to go out there, battle for 60 minutes, give it all we’ve got and try to prove everyone wrong”. We knew we were going to see a push and I thought we handled it pretty well.
Pominville put the game away with an empty net goal at the end to make sure they played a Game 5.
“They play for each other, and that’s why they’re a very successful line”, Torchetti said. “We better be prepared and focused and ready to answer their storm and come back with ours”.
Game 3 is Monday in Minnesota (8:30 p.m. EDT, CNBC).
Jason Pominville said, “We could have easily folded” after their poor start. The Wild forward chipped the puck ahead of him, and instead of it flying out of his reach, he batted it back down with the back of his stick before potting it for the 2-1 score. Dallas had a 14-1 advantage on shots until the final seconds of the first period. It deflected off Pominville and fluttered in, marking the first time in the series that the Wild had scored first.Dallas got a power-play goal before the period was half over to tie the game, briefly.
“I liked our game”.
“We took a couple penalties”, defenseman Ryan Suter said, “and it ended up costing us there”.
If Granlund gets to that loose puck first that goal doesn’t happen.
The return of right wing Marian Gaborik after a two-month absence to a knee injury gave the Kings a boost in Game 2, but they’ll need more Monday in Game 3.
If you have access to a cable or satellite log-in and you’re looking to stream the game on a tablet or connected TV, you can do so via the NBC Sports Live Extra App, which you can download in the App Store or the Google Play Store. All the great dynasties of the National Hockey League can point to a cohesion of players that allowed them to transcend and overcome any opponent’s game plan. He has 45 goals in 132 playoff games, by far the most on the Stars roster. “Obviously, with the bigger picture, with the Snider family, we want to go home and get this a little closer”. The Wild would go the next 10 minutes without a shot, but with 46.3 seconds left in the period, a driving Pominville buried Niederreiter’s rebound by Kari Lehtonen for his 18th career playoff goal.
Advertisement
Suddenly we have a competitive series again, a best-of-five home stretch that has the Wild confident again despite a short bench and long odds still stacked against them.
