The Dallas Stars had a 2-0 lead in the series and the game, and the Minnesota Wild were on their way to 400 minutes of postseason hockey without a lead. Is the Stars third line better than the Wild’s first line?
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Haula, who had missed the first game of the series with a lower-body injury, had a career-best 14 goals in the regular season, and has emerged as an offensive catalyst for Minnesota, especially with forwards Zach Parise and Thomas Vanek missing from the lineup due to injury. The line of Erik Haula, Pominville and Nino Niederreiter started Game 3 with the assignment of defending Dallas’ top line of Benn, Sharp and Cody Eakin.
That after Dallas held a 2-0 lead in the game and the series. Mikko Koivu scored a power play goal in the third period to give them a 4-2 lead.
For a rookie season, Faksa played a rather complete game with minimal mistakes, which is why he made his playoff debut for the Central Division leaders and has been in an important role through the first round. “That’s the fun part and the exciting part about playoffs in a seven-game series”. Kari Lehtonen has given up five goals on 72 shots faced.
The Wild, if you were to try to make a comparison in terms of how it is put together is much like the Detroit Red Wings; a smaller mobile team with skill who uses hockey IQ and puck possession to beat their opponents.
“This next game’s probably going to be the hardest, and we have to get prepared for that”, Stars center Vernon Fiddler told the Dallas Morning News. “We’ve got to bring our best up there”.1 seed in the Western Conference, scored its second goal when Spezza was skating along the right side and initially faked a slap shot with just over 8 minutes left in the second period.
Earlier Monday, Stars coach Lindy Ruff said he had a couple of things planned that he hoped would render the Wild’s emotion from the home crowd “ineffective”. Granlund’s 11 shots on goal are the most on the team through three playoff games, but he’s looking for his first point. John Torchetti’s group now has odds of -102 to even up the series at two games apiece. “Inside the game, it doesn’t really matter; you’re just playing another team in another playoff game”. They battled, played the way we know they can and were able to bounce back after a slow start.
Sharp scored 26 seconds into the game and again less than 4 minutes later for the Stars, but the Wild controlled the action after that and finished with a 25-17 shots-on-goal advantage. “We’re still there and we’ve got to fight back to even up the series”. The Wild still trailed 2-1 after 20 minutes, but the tide had turned, and the next three goals ignited the home crowd.
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Devan Dubnyk gave up 2 goals on 3 shots Monday night. Pominville doesn’t have a point in six games this month and has just one point in his past six playoff games. If a team is playing for something more than just a win like the fans or each other, they have something that will translate into all facets of the game.
