DALLAS — With one of their bigger offensive elements back on the ice, the Minnesota Wild played the defensive game they desperately needed on the road to move within one win of advancing in the NHL playoffs.
The Wild got goals in every period and never trailed on Tuesday, beating the Dallas Stars 4-2 at American Airlines Center to take a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series.
The story of the night was Minnesota’s defense, which killed a pair of Stars power plays and held Dallas to 22 shots on goal.
Minnesota got a first-period goal from Mats Zuccarello, who returned to the lineup after missing the past three games. Matt Boldy scored on a power play in the second period, and big man Michael McCarron got his second of the playoffs in the third. Kirill Kaprizov sealed it with an empty net goal.
Game 6 in the series will be Thursday evening at Grand Casino Arena. The start time has not yet been announced by the NHL.
Jesper Wallstedt had 20 saves for Minnesota, which won Game 5 in a series tied 2-2 for just the second time in franchise history.
Dallas goalie Jake Oettinger had 24 saves in the loss.
There was good news for the Wild before the first puck was dropped, with Zuccarello and Yakov Trenin returning to the lineup after both suffered upper body injuries early in the series.
Zuccarello, who posted three assists in Minnesota’s 6-1 win in the series opener, wasted little time reintroducing himself to the Stars, popping a loose puck past Oettinger from the doorstep after a turnover at the blue line allowed Brock Faber to get the puck to the net.
But then a Wild player went to the penalty box, which has been the Stars’ recipe for success in this series, and they needed less than a minute of man advantage to tie the game when Miro Heiskanen’s blast from the blue line fooled Wallstedt on the glove side.
But the Wild’s power play, which had struggled in the previous three games, appeared to give Minnesota the lead back with 12.9 seconds left in the first, when Boldy went hard to the net front and the puck slid past Oettinger. Dallas challenged for goalie interference and after a review, the goal came off the board, leaving the teams tied 1-1 after 20 minutes.
Dallas got another power play early in the middle frame, but this time Minnesota held them off the board, thanks in part to a pair of Wallstedt saves. The Stars killed another penalty in the second — the Wild’s 12th consecutive fruitless power play — but that streak ended with 31.4 seconds left in the period when Boldy put a shot through traffic and gave the Wild their second lead of the game.
It took Dallas nearly seven minutes in the third to get a shot on Wallstedt, but the Wild scored on their first shot of the period. McCarron, acquired at the deadline for his size, cut to the net and slipped the puck between Oettinger’s knees.
With more than five minutes to play and a player from each team in the penalty box, Dallas pulled Oettinger for an extra attacker and got back within a goal when Jason Robertson scored his fifth goal in as many games. But with Oettinger back on the bench, Kaprizov backhanded a shot into the empty net.
The Wild played the last 38 minutes of regulation with five defenseman because Jonas Brodin was injured after blocking a shot early in the second period and did not return.
The Wild did some line juggling to accommodate the return of Trenin and Zuccarello, including a healthy scratch for rookie forward Danila Yurov for the first time in the playoffs. Dallas played without defenseman Nils Lundkvist, who suffered a deep cut on his cheek in Game 4 when Wild forward Michael McCarron’s skate cut him after both players fell to the ice. Dallas lost center Arttu Hyry during the game to a lower body injury. He did not return after leaving the bench in the second period.
Wild and Stars playing ‘paint wars’ as series ramps up for Game 5
How playing with Quinn Hughes unlocked Brock Faber’s offensive game
Stars, Wild facing opposite offensive challenges as Game 5 approaches
Will the Wild have Mats Zuccarello for Game 5 against the Stars?