Stars beat Wild, likely securing home ice in playoff matchup
DALLAS – When all the shots, hits, punches, saves and goals were done, and the final horn sounded sending fans out into the warm Texas night, the message sent by the Minnesota Wild and Dallas Stars after 60 minutes of crazy, intense hockey was a simple one: “Let’s get together and do this again next week. ” When they do, it will almost certainly be at American Airlines Center after Jason Robertson scored the winner in the third period, lifting the Stars to a 5-4 comeback win over the Wild on Thursday. The Wild got a trio of power-play goals, two of them by Kirill Kaprizov, and held a lead in every period but could not hold off repeated comebacks by Dallas.
With the win, the Stars hold a four-point lead in the Central Division standings with three regular season games remaining, and will most likely host the Wild in the first two games of their best-of-seven playoff series which starts next week. Filip Gustavsson had 15 saves for the Wild, who lost for the first time in April. It was clearly a playoff level of intensity, with double-digit penalty minutes on both teams, and a scrum of some sort after nearly every whistle.
“It’s a good appetizer, I guess you could say,” quipped Wild forward Nick Foligno, who spent 10% of the game in the penalty box. “I mean, it’s disappointing because we felt like we were in control of that game, and they’re gonna make their push. That’s playoff hockey.
” Dallas led early after the Wild made a fruitless early push. With the puck behind the net and Gustavsson looking the other way, Wyatt Johnston was able to pop a shot behind the goalie for his Stars-leading 44th goal of the season. Minnesota tied it on a classic give-and-go play.
Quinn Hughes hit Mats Zuccarello with a long pass at the offensive blue line, and Zuccarello gave it right back, allowing Hughes to sail into the offensive zone and beat Jake Oettinger with a rising wrist shot. The goal gave Hughes 52 points with the Wild this season, since arriving in mid-December. That is a new franchise single-season record for points by a defenseman.
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