The Minnesota Wild began the 2023 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs in Dallas against the former team from Minnesota. There’s a built-in rivalry as the majority of Minnesota Wild fans are not likely fans of the Dallas Stars.* These two teams have only faced each other one other time in the playoffs when Dallas beat the Wild 4-2 in a 1st-round series in 2015-16.
*Maybe they were fans of the Stars or some of the Stars players before Minnesota received another team through expansion for the 2000-1 season but since then… we think NOT! Norm Green Sucks!
A Short Series Preview
Unfortunately, we didn’t have enough time to do a full preview of this series so we’ll do a little less wordy version here. Wild fans remember how the Wild struggled last season after they took a 2-1 series lead after Game 3 against the St. Louis Blues in St. Louis. They didn’t look like the resilient team they were up until that 4th game and because of that, they lost the next 3 games. They will likely never forget that feeling so the Wild used that experience to make sure they were ready to hold each other accountable and not to panic when the going got rough.
We’ve now seen examples of that throughout the 2022-23 season. They know they have to outwork their opponent from the moment the puck drops regardless of who is in or out of the lineup. They don’t panic when they get stuck in their own zone and they’ve kept building a team culture that allows for every player to reach or exceed their potential. They will need that with injuries to Joel Eriksson Ek and John Klingberg that kept them out of Game 1, at least. F Sam Steel and D Brock Faber will make their Stanley Cup Playoffs debuts alongside the starting goalie, Filip Gustavsson.
The Dallas Stars have been really good all season. They look like the Wild with a better offense or maybe the better way to say it is more talent.* They are the better team on paper or on a computer screen but everybody knows… games aren’t played on paper or inside a computer so…
*$12.7M+ in cap space would add some pretty nice offense for the Wild but they’ll have to wait a couple of years for that. That’s like adding Jamie Benn and Roope Hintz to the Wild lineup.
This series might very well go 7 and both teams know the Stanley Cup playoffs is about winning battles for the puck as the intensity goes up by about 10. The Wild will look to bring the compete-level and the physicality and stay mentally tough because it has to be Grit First for them to succeed!:
“I want our team to be able to play their best game in the most hostile environment. I want our team to be so mentally tough that we can play our best game in that environment.”
–
Bill Guerin
Alright. Enough words. Let’s…
Drop the Playoff ClutterPuck!!!
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Here’s how the teams lined up:
Minnesota Wild
Wild projected lineup
Forwards
Kirill Kaprizov — Ryan Hartman — Mats Zuccarello
Marcus Johansson — Frederick Gaudreau — Matt Boldy
Gustav Nyquist — Sam Steel — Marcus Foligno
Brandon Duhaime — Connor Dewar — Ryan Reaves
Defensemen
Jake Middleton — Jared Spurgeon
Jonas Brodin — Matt Dumba
Jon Merrill — Brock Faber
Goalies
Filip Gustavsson
Marc-Andre Fleury
Scratched:
Calen Addison, Damien Giroux, Alex Goligoski, Hunter Jones, Nic Petan, Marco Rossi, Nick Swaney, Samuel Walker
Injured:
Joel Eriksson Ek (lower body), Oskar Sundqvist (lower body), John Klingberg (lower body)
Status Report
Jones was recalled from Iowa of the American Hockey League and will be the Wild’s third goaltender.
Dallas Stars
Stars projected lineup
Forwards
Jason Robertson — Roope Hintz — Joe Pavelski
Jamie Benn — Wyatt Johnston — Evgenii Dadonov
Mason Marchment — Max Domi — Tyler Seguin
Luke Glendening — Radek Faksa — Ty Dellandrea
Defensemen
Ryan Suter — Miro Heiskanen
Esa Lindell — Jani Hakanpää
Thomas Harley — Colin Miller
Goalies
Jake Oettinger
Scott Wedgewood
Scratched:
Joel Hanley, Joel Kiviranta, Nils Lundkvist, Fredrik Olofsson
Injured:
None
Status Report
Wedgewood did not practice Sunday because of illness, according to DeBoer. He skated Monday and is expected to back up Oettinger in Game 1.
Game Recap
1st Period
Your Minnesota Wild Game 1 starters were:
The 1st period had only a few chances as both teams kind of felt out the game for the first 3rd of the period.
1:24 – Penalty – Dallas – Jamie Benn for High-Sticking Brandon Duhaime
Jamie Benn was trying to get around Wild F Brandon Duhaime on the backcheck but he had to kind of jump around him and while he did that, he raised his arms to get around him and when they came back down his stick hit Duhaime in the face. Oops.
Dallas killed it off and didn’t give the Wild much on their first power play. The Wild had some pretty good time in the zone but didn’t have many scoring opportunities.
1:24 – Penalty – Dallas – Wyatt Johnston for Slashing Kirill Kaprizov
Dallas F Wyatt Johnston was covering Wild F Kirill Kaprizov in the neutral zone and actually slashed him before he got the puck at about the right half-wall and he slashed him on his hands as he tried to send the puck towards the net. ESPN showed a replay that was seconds after the actual penalty. Apparently they were figuring out this playoff thing, too. Ughh
The Wild were able to set up and Zuccarello fed Marcus Johansson at the left side of the net and he tried to make a quick move for a shot on net but he didn’t get much on it and it may have been blocked/deflected by Stars D Esa Lindell and the puck went behind the net. Johansson pursued the loose puck but tripped/was tripped by Dallas D Jani Hakanpää who followed him but then tripped over Johansson allowing Wild F Kirill Kaprizov to get to the loose puck and send it to Mats Zuccarello at the right half-wall. Zuccarello one-timed a pass to Jared Spurgeon at the middle of the slot and he shot the puck…
0:47.7 – Goal (PPG) – Minnesota – Kirill Kaprizov from Jared Spurgeon and Mats Zuccarello
Nice job by Kirill Kaprizov to get in front of the net and to skate in front of Stars G Jake Oettinger then get his stick on the shot. Every Dallas player was at or below the bottom of the faceoff circles when Kaprizov passed the puck to Zuccarello from behind the net then as the puck was moved to Spurgeon, you would think Esa Lindell would try to cover Kaprizov but maybe he was more concerned about Matt Boldy being available for a one-timer at the right dot. So Boldy lighting it up with 14 goals in his last 15 games likely changed the way Dallas played there. Boldy Strategy, Cotton.
1-0 Wild
2nd Period
Minnesota Wild F Ryan Hartman was heading towards Dallas D Esa Lindell who had the puck on the left boards near the blue line. Hartman went to him and Lindell turned just as he was going to hit him.
17:55 – Penalty – Minnesota – Ryan Hartman for Checking from Behind on Esa Lindell
Dallas won the faceoff back to F Roope Hintz in the slot for a quick shot…
17:52 – Goal (PPG) – Dallas – Roope Hintz from Jamie Benn
That’s tough because Wild F Marcus Johansson probably could’ve got to Roope Hintz with his stick or maybe even tried to slide in front of him to block the shot but he allowed the shot to get through and it beat Wild G Filip Gustavsson.
1-1 Tie
15:53 – Penalty – Minnesota – Marcus Foligno for Slashing
The officials missed a checking-from-behind on Wild D Jared Spurgeon but called Wild F Marcus Foligno for a slash when both he and ? were hacking each other.
And the Stars scored just 6 seconds into that power play off another faceoff win to take a 1-goal lead.
14:47 – Goal (PPG) – Dallas – Jason Robertson from Miro Heiskanen & Joe Pavelski
Wild G Filip Gustavsson may have been screened by his own defenseman, Jonas Brodin on a good low shot that found its way to the far side of the net.
2-1 Dallas
15:15 – Penalty – Dallas – Roope Hintz for Hooking Mats Zuccarello
12:52 – Penalty – Dallas – Joe Pavelski for Tripping Matt Dumba
Dallas kept taking penalties but the Wild couldn’t take advantage of them.
7:58 – Penalties – Matt Dumba (MIN) & Max Domi (DAL) for Roughing
Minnesota Wild D Matt Dumba looks like he comes in a little late with a hit as Dallas F Joe Pavelski was trying to get around Wild F Ryan Hartman in the left corner of the Wild’s defensive zone and Pavelski doesn’t look like he ever saw Dumba coming for a big shoulder to shoulder hit that sent Pavelski up with so much momentum that his head ended up hitting the ice.
That hit definitely looked like a game-changer since it took Joe Pavelski out of the game but also because it made Dallas play in more of a get revenge mode instead of playing to win the game.
A faceoff in the Wild’s defensive zone was won by Dallas and the puck eventually got back to Jason Robertson at the middle of the blue line and he tried to take a shot but Wild F Sam Steel got in front of it to block the shot and it deflected off of him to teammate F Gustav Nyquist who passed it to Sam Steel who took off after he blocked the shot to get behind the Dallas players and he got a breakaway for his hard work…
5:35 – Goal – Minnesota – Sam Steel from Gustav Nyquist
2-2 Tie
Matt Dumba was now a target for every Dallas forward and Mason Marchment slew-footed him as they were battling behind the play.
How much will that Dumba hit mess with Dallas’ game?
3rd Period
14:20 – Penalties – Coincidental Minors – Marcus Foligno (MIN) for Hooking & Jason Robertson (DAL) for Embellishment
6:45 – Penalty – Minnesota – Jared Spurgeon for Tripping Max Domi
Dallas F Max Domi was skating to the front of the net and Jared Spurgeon tried to keep him from getting there by pushing him and he was coming down with his stick and hit his left skate to make him fall down.
The Wild killed it off as the game reached under 5 minutes left in regulation.
Late in regulation, Dallas D Ryan Suter cross-checked Wild F Kirill Kaprizov from behind and right in the ribs where there’s no padding and he was in pain. Marcus Foligno had a conversation with Suter on his next shift.
Ryan Suter hit Kaprizov earlier with another cross-check in the same place, too:
Both teams had some chances but both goalies were doing a great job of keeping the puck out of their nets so this game went to sudden death…
OVERTIME!
Right out of the gate, we get some OVERTIME! There is no 3-on-3 or shootout in the playoffs like there is in some leagues!* They’ll keep playing until they have a winner.
*Ahem, PHF (with some help from ESPN!) But hey, at least Toronto finally won a Cup, the Isobel Cup.
Alright. Who you got for Bucci’s Overtime Challenge, ‘Puckers? It’s the playoffs so it could be anyone so…
We’re going with Wild F Gustav Nyquist and Dallas F Evgenii Dadonov.
The Wild had the first great chance when Zuccarello hit Dumba with a cross-ice pass but Dallas G Jake Oettinger made the save! OHHHH!!!
The Wild had another great chance a little later but…
12:22 – Penalty – Minnesota – Jared Spurgeon for Slashing Evgenii Dadonov
No dice for Dallas on that Power Play as the Wild were going everything to get in front of shots to keep the game alive.
Dallas had a good push with about 2 minutes remaining in the first overtime then it looked like the Wild would get a good chance but it was broken up so…
DOUBLE OVERTIME!!
Jake Oettinger was still making timely saves in the 2nd overtime! Geez! Marcus Johansson just couldn’t lift the puck on his backhand or the game might’ve been over.
Rookie Minnesota Wild D Brock Faber made a lunging/diving play to get his stick on a shot that probably saved the game.
Seconds later, Wild F Freddy Gaudreau accidentally tripped Dallas F Jamie Benn with 9:11 remaining in the 2nd overtime but the Wild killed it off.
Wild G Filip Gustavsson made a save or had the shaft of his goalie stick in the way of a shot from Max Domi. Unfortunately, there seems to be no video of it.
Dallas won the ensuing faceoff but the Wild were able to clear the puck and Wild F Gustav Nyquist in the neutral zone and he was able to turn around and feed Sam Steel going up the left side. He tried to send a pass to the far side of the net to Ryan Hartman but it was intercepted by Stars D Thomas Harley but he just sent it to the left corner where Stars D Colin Miller just tried to send it up the boards but Sam Steel was there to pressure the puck and it went off of his stick and/or his skate and deflected towards the net. Ryan Hartman just skated around the net so the puck was coming right to him while the Dallas players all thought they were going to be breaking out of their zone so…
And THAT is a WILD 3-2 Win in Double OVERTIME!!!
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