After a big win in the opener, Wild coach wants even more in Game 2
DALLAS – Coming off the biggest series-opening win in the 25-year history of the Minnesota Wild, their coach wants even more than the 6-1 drubbing the visitors laid on the Dallas Stars in Game 1. Meeting with the media on Sunday, which was a day off for the team, John Hynes was quick to point out they his team has won one game, not a series and not a trophy, and they will need to get even better from here. “We prepped for a few days to play Game 1 and we played Game 1 and we got the result we wanted, but we want to continue to get better as the series goes on,” Hynes said.
“As we all know, I think it’s important that you stay focused, you don’t get too high after a win, you don’t get too low after a loss. It’s a series. ” American Airlines Center, the site of this series’ first two games, is where Brock Faber made his playoff debut three years ago in a win.
On Saturday in the 2026 opener he played a superlative game according to the advanced statistics, but those numbers and algorithms were unnecessary for anyone who watched Faber with the naked eye, and saw a defenseman who – partnered with headliner Quinn Hughes – is emerging into his own kind of stardom. “I’ve been playing with Brock for 45 games, maybe a little bit more now, and like I’ve been saying, the more we play together the more we’re going to grow together,” said Hughes, who jumped back into the Game 1 lineup after not skating for a week. “And he can pick my brain and he knows where I want the puck and I know where he wants the puck, and just kind of be able to read off each other without having to say anything.
” For Faber, there’s an acknowledgement that they will face a talented and desperate Stars team on Monday night in Game 2, but also an embrace of the coach’s challenge to be even better as the Wild seek to take a 2-0 series lead for the first time in franchise history. “We played a good game. There’s things we can improve on, right?
” Faber said. “A couple bounces don’t go our way, who knows. I thought we deserved to win that game, but at the end of the day, you’ve got to put it in the past.