The Minnesota Wild went into Game 2 looking to go up 2 games to none in a series for the first time in franchise history. The Wild will likely try to play the same game of disciplined defense they played in Game 1 but that won’t be easy as everyone knows the Dallas Stars will bring a ton of energy right from the drop of the puck. They will make some adjustments from game one as well & it’s always easier to adjust after a loss than it is after a win.
Will the Wild be able to get to their game to play a similar game to Game 1? Let’s find out!
Game 1 Recap HERE if you missed it!
Alright. Enough words. Let’s…
Drop the ClutterPuck!!!
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Here’s how the teams lined up:
Minnesota Wild
Wild projected lineup
Forwards
Kirill Kaprizov – Sam Steel — Mats Zuccarello
Marcus Johansson — Matt Boldy — Marcus Foligno
Gustav Nyquist — Frederick Gaudreau — Oskar Sundqvist
Brandon Duhaime — Connor Dewar — Ryan Reaves
Defensemen
Jake Middleton — Jared Spurgeon
Jonas Brodin — Matt Dumba
Jon Merrill — Brock Faber
Goalies
Marc-Andre Fleury
Filip Gustavsson
Scratched:
Calen Addison, Damien Giroux, Alex Goligoski, Hunter Jones, Nic Petan, Marco Rossi, Nick Swaney, Samuel Walker
Injured:
Joel Eriksson Ek (lower body), Ryan Hartman (lower body), John Klingberg (lower body)
Roster Report
F Sammy Walker was recalled from the Iowa Wild.
Dallas Stars
Stars projected lineup
Forwards
Jason Robertson — Roope Hintz — Tyler Seguin
Jamie Benn — Wyatt Johnston — Evgenii Dadonov
Mason Marchment — Max Domi — Ty Dellandrea
Joel Kiviranta — Radek Faksa — Luke Glendening
Defensemen
Ryan Suter — Miro Heiskanen
Esa Lindell — Jani Hakanpää
Thomas Harley — Colin Miller
Goalies
Jake Oettinger
Scott Wedgewood
Scratched:
Joel Hanley, Nils Lundkvist, Fredrik Olofsson
Injured:
Joe Pavelski (upper body)
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Obviously it also hurts the Wild to lose Ryan Hartman for this game especially after he was the hero in Game 1. They recalled F Sammy Walker but decided to put F Oskar Lundqvist in the lineup instead.
Dallas was still without F Joe Pavelski so F Joel Kiviranta took his spot in the lineup.
Game Recap
1st Period
Good start to the game and the Minnesota Wild get the first power play after they generated a good scoring chance off the rush as Kirill Kaprizov went down the right side with speed, cut to the middle and took a shot then was the first to the rebound as the Wild had a good 30 seconds of time in the offensive zone with a few shots and a couple of scoring chances. Dallas eventually cleared the zone up the left boards and past the red line.
Wild F Sam Steel beat Dallas F Wyatt Johnston t the puck and was just going to send it back up the boards when Johnston hooked him to make him fall down.
16:22 – Penalty – Dallas – Wyatt Johnston for Hooking Sam Steel
Johnston stopped skating then put his stick up and in on Sam Steel. He should’ve done the opposite, keep skating and get your stick to the puck.
The Wild had some zone time to begin the power play then Wild F Mats Zuccarello tried to make a pass through a defender and turned over the puck.
On the ensuing zone entry, Matt Boldy was coming up the left side and he fed Kirill Kaprizov at the blue line. Kaprizov pulled up just inside the offensive zone and went around Dallas D Jani Hakanpää and tried to make a pass to Jared Spurgeon near the blue line but Dallas F Joel Kiviranta got his stick on it. Spurgeon just missed knocking the puck off of his stick so Kiviranta sent the puck past Spurgeon into the neutral zone where Dallas F Roope Hintz could skate into it and maybe get a scoring chance. Wild F Marcus Johansson had circled around the Wild’s defensive zone to be the player to receive the drop pass for the power play zone entry so he was right there but for some reason he decided against going for the loose puck and curled wide thinking he could chase down Roope Hintz…
8:40 – Goal (PPG) – Dallas – Tyler Seguin from Jason Robertson & Miro Heiskanen
So that penalty being a double-minor penalty played really helped the Dallas Stars. Should that shot be blocked and/or should Tyler Seguin be covered instead of being wide open at the side of the net? Wild D Jonas Brodin went to Hintz to get his stick so he wouldn’t be able to make a play on it but he was battling for position with Seguin right before that. Pick your poison? Dewar(#26) should probably be closer to Robertson as he’s in the middle for no reason but Brandon Duhaime(#21) was chasing the puck then settled down and they were too close together in the middle.
2-0 Dallas
Wild F Matt Boldy got a breakaway but he had to go to his backhand to protect the puck from the defender chasing him down so he didn’t have a great angle and didn’t get much on the shot.
20 seconds later, the Wild won a faceoff in their own zone. The puck eventually got to Oskar Sundqvist at the right half-wall and he made a little pass to D Matt Dumba to allow him to start a rush up the ice with Gustav Nyquist on his left. Sundqvist then got on his horse to get to the net. Dumba passed the puck to Nyquist right after he crossed the blue line and Nyquist made a move to his backhand to get around Jani Hakanpää then shot a backhand towards the net and the puck went off of Dallas G Jake Oettinger’s left pad then off of Oskar Sundqvist’s right skate and into the net as he was stopping in the crease.
3:49 – Goal – Minnesota – Oskar Sundqvist from Gustav Nyquist & Matt Dumba
It was 2-on-2 but Dallas had two backchecking forwards in Jason Robertson & Roope Hintz but they were both puck-watching and not looking for someone to cover so Sundqvist sneaks by Hintz who took a quick look when Sundqvist was behind him but either didn’t see him or wasn’t worried about him. Minus 1, boys! Oops!
2-1 Dallas
The Wild got some momentum from that goal but also needed a save from Fleury to keep the game at 2-1 before the end of the period.
2nd Period
The Wild started the 2nd period with some good jump but 3:48 in they took a penalty that somehow wasn’t nullified with a Jamie Benn dive:
3:48 – Penalty – Minnesota – Jon Merrill for Cross-Checking Jamie Benn
Roope Hintz was the zone entry guy and as he got close to the blue, he either fanned on the pass to Jamie Benn or it was a fake. It’s hard to tell. Jared Spurgeon reacted to that fanned pass so he got neither the puck nor the player and Hintz passed the puck to Benn right after he passed Spurgeon and Benn took a shot. Wild D Jonas Brodin had to think about stopping the pass as well as the shot so he didn’t get over far enough to block the shot. Sam Steel gets his stick to Benn’s stick as he’s shooting and the way Fleury reacts makes you wonder if something affected his read of the shot.
A couple of different angles at the 31-second mark below:
15:53 – Goal (PPG) – Dallas – Jamie Benn from Roope Hintz & Miro Heiskanen
3-1 Dallas
1:15 later, Wild F Marcus Johansson used his speed to get in the Dallas zone to take a shot from the left faceoff dot but it was deflected by the stick of Dallas D Jani Hakanpää and it went all the way around the glass & into the neutral zone past pinching D Jared Spurgeon (on the right half-wall) and Matt Boldy at the blue line near the bench to create a 2-on-1 with Dallas F Evgenii Dadonov with the puck & F Jamie Benn on his right. Dadonov passed it to Benn and instead of one-timing a shot, he one-timed a pass back to F Wyatt Johnston who was trailing the play. Johnston did take a one-timer that went off of Matt Boldy’s stick then off of Marc-Andre Fleury’s chest and then the rebound went right to Dadonov who stopped at the side of the net.
14:26 – Goal – Dallas – Evgenii Dadonov from Wyatt Johnston & Jamie Benn
WOW! What a crazy play! Wild F Marcus Foligno didn’t see the puck come off the glass and he thought Spurgeon caught it while Matt Boldy was going for a change then had to try to backcheck. Wild D Jake Middleton was giving too much of a gap so he didn’t take the pass away and ended up losing an edge. If Foligno would’ve seen the puck he could’ve backchecked to maybe keep Johnston from being available for that shot. You can see the 3 trailing Wild players start to coast as Johnston is getting the pass.
4-1 Dallas
It also looks like Dallas had too many men on the ice:
9:29 – Penalty – Dallas – Jani Hakanpää for Holding Jake Middleton
Wild F Sam Steel intercepted a clearing attempt that took a bad bounce off the boards and he tried to get a pass through to Mats Zuccarello but it was broken up. The puck came back out to the Wild in the neutral zone and D Jake Middleton went up the left boards with the puck and Hakanpää held him as he was trying to get to the puck.
After losing the faceoff it took the Wild about 40 seconds to get set up then Matt Boldy had the puck at the right half-wall and he sent a pass to Marcus Johanson beneath the goal then got it back but D Ryan Suter had moved towards the goal line to pressure the puck so now Boldy had more room so he moved to just above the center of the faceoff circle and shot the puck. Johansson had moved in front of the net to screen G Jake Oettinger and the puck hit his left glove but dropped down between his legs but he quickly kicked it to his stick then lifted a backhand into the net.
8:06 – Goal (PPG) – Minnesota – Marcus Johansson from Matt Boldy and Mats Zuccarello
Kirill Kaprizov moving to the front of the net to force Dallas D Esa Lindell helped free Johansson up to have the time to get to the puck and the little pass back & forth from Boldy & Johansson helped create enough space for Boldy to get a shot through to just create a loose puck that made Oettinger panic a little and try to find it so he wasn’t quick enough to get over when Johansson corralled the puck.
You could add that Dallas F Radek Faksa was just defending space and watching the puck the whole time.
4-2 Dallas
The Wild won the ensuing faceoff to the right boards where Matt Dumba tried to dump it in but he didn’t get all of it as he was pressured by Stars F Wyatt Johnston so Stars D Thomas Harley sent it back into the neutral zone but he didn’t get a lot on it because he was pressured by Wild F Oskar Sundqvist to create a loose puck in the neutral zone as Dumba knocked it away from Johnston. Wild F Gustav Nyquist got the puck and turned into the offensive zone and 3 Dallas players pursued him to try to end the play but they all made weak poke check attempts that didn’t reach the puck so he got around Stars D Colin Miller and fed Freddy Gaudreau for a mini-breakaway…
7:55 – Goal – Minnesota – Freddy Gaudreau from Gustav Nyquist & Matt Dumba
Teams say they want to “kill plays” as quickly as possible which is why 3 Dallas players went to Gustav Nyquist so fast but none them did enough to kill the play and Nyquist is making Minnesota Wild GM Billy Guerin look really good as he has points in every game he’s played in a Wild sweater so far. That includes 3 assists in 2 playoff games and he also had a goal & 4 assists in the last 3 regular season games.
GUUUUUSTAV!!!
4-3 Dallas
2 goals in 11 seconds set a new Minnesota Wild franchise record for the fastest 2 playoff goals in Wild history and we had a brand new game in Dallas.
11 seconds after that… it was still 4-3! DOH! COME ON!!! 🤣
Wild F Matt Boldy almost got a breakaway as he came on the ice for a line change but it was ruled offsides. Dallas D Miro Heiskanen may have deflected the pass but there wasn’t a great view of the play.
About 4 minutes later Dallas got the puck in the offensive zone and got a point shot from Miro Heiskanen that Fleury saved and Spurgeon cleared the rebound to the left boards but the Wild lost a puck battle that went back to Heiskanen at the blue line and the Wild players in that puck battle all pursued or watched the puck. Sam Steel went to Heiskanen. Spurgeon picked up Jamie Benn but nobody covered Evgenii Dadonov so he was free for a shot pass that he tipped up into the upper right corner.
3:52 – Goal – Dallas – Evgenii Dadonov from Miro Heiskanen
Marc-Andre Fleury had a bunch of players in front of him that he had to try to see around and he saw Heiskanen send the puck to the right side so he went down but probably picked up the puck a bit late so Dallas was up by 2 goals again.
5-3 Dallas
30 seconds later the Wild had the puck in the offensive zone and Marcus Johansson tried to feed Matt Boldy for a one-timer near the blue line but Roope Hintz read the play and deflected the pass to create his own breakaway…
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Marc-Andre Fleury went for the poke check which usually tells you that the goalie isn’t very confident in their game because it’s a prayer play to try to stop a goal. If it doesn’t work it’s most likely going to be a goal so after the Wild scored 2 goals in 11 seconds to get the game within 1 goal, just 4 minutes later the Dallas Stars scored 2 goals in 48 seconds to rebuild that 3-goal lead!
6-3 Dallas
2:09 – Penalty – Minnesota – Kirill Kaprizov for Tripping Radek Faksa
Kirill Kaprizov tried to defend Faksa and got his skate behind Faksa’s right skate and he went down.
Wild F Connor Dewar was hooked by Dallas F Tyler Seguin to force a turnover in the neutral zone but there was no call.
The Wild killed off the penalty and the period ended.
You had to think the Wild were thinking about pulling G Marc-Andre Fleury but you also know he wouldn’t want to come out of the game
3rd Period
Did the Wild have another comeback in them for the 3rd period?
Wild F Brandon Duhaime had a scoring chance around 3 minutes in but he didn’t have enough time to lift the puck.
The Wild got a couple of power play and on the 2nd one the puck ended up beneath the goal line and against the boards so Dallas tried to hold it there while time just kept ticking off the clock. The official said, “Keep playin’!” a couple of times and Dallas F Radek Faksa shoves Wild F Kirill Kaprizov about 5 times to which Kaprizov brings his elbow up. You’re not going to see Kirill Kaprizov back down.
Wild F Ryan Reaves got a slashing penalty and we never saw any of it as it was away from the puck.
While on the Penalty Kill, Wild F Freddy Gaudreau got a tripping penalty when he pushed Mason Marchment behind the Dallas net but he fell because his skates hit the boards. Good call, ref!
Dallas scored a power play goal when F Jason Robertson fed F Roope Hintz at the side of the net for a tip in for the hat trick.
7:44 – Goal (PPG) – Dallas – Roope Hintz from Jason Robertson & Miro Heiskanen
7-3 Dallas
There were seven 10-minute misconducts given out by the officials in the last 5:33 of the game as the officials tried to keep the game from getting out of control physically that started with Kaprizov and Max Domi.
Then Wild Fs Marcus Foligno, Ryan Reaves & Brandon Duhaime & Dallas F Jamie Benn & D Ryan Suter.
The Wild didn’t really play that bad as a whole. They still competed as hard as they always do. They just made too many mistakes and it seemed like Dallas was getting all of the breaks. We’ll see how they respond on Friday night.
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Final
Minnesota Wild 3 | 7 Dallas Stars
Goals
MN: 1. Oskar Sundqvist(1), 2. Marcus Johansson(1), 3. Freddy Gaudreau(1)
DAL: 1. Roope Hintz(2)-SHG, 2. Tyler Seguin(1)-PPG, 3. Jamie Benn(1)-PPG, 4. Evgenii Dadonov(1), 5. Evgenii Dadonov(2), 6. Roope Hintz(3), 7. Roope Hintz(4)-PPG
*PPG=Power-Play Goal, ENG=Empty-Net Goal
Assists
MN: 1. Gustav Nyquist(2), Matt Dumba(1), 2. Matt Boldy(1), Mats Zuccarello(1)-PPG, 3. Gustav Nyquist(3)
DAL: 1. Joel Kiviranta(1)-SHG, 2. Jason Robertson(1), Miro Heiskanen(2)-PPG, 3. Roope Hintz(1), Miro Heiskanen(3)-PPG, 4. Wyatt Johnston(1), Jamie Benn(2), 5. Miro Heiskanen(4), 6. Unassisted, 7. Jason Robertson(2), Miro Heiskanen(5)-PPG
Goalies
MN:
Marc-Andre Fleury
24 Saves on 31 Shots, .774 Save% – 1st Playoff Loss
DAL:
Jake Oettinger
23 Saves on 26 Shots, .885 Save% – 1st Playoff Win
Game Notes
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Net Profit, Surplus or Losses?
(Are you selling Flowers or Busses*)
*You could deliver Flowers in Busses or have a Flowerful Bus, too!
Everyone will question the Minnesota Wild’s decision to go with G Marc-Andre Fleury instead of Game 1 winner G Filip Gustavsson but the Wild have been doing this for the majority of the season and they’re both great goalies. Only 22 times this season did the same goalie start the next game. 13 of those happened in the 1st 26 games as they were finding out how good Gus was in their net. There were also 16 before the All-Star break (January 30th – February 5th). That’s 13 times in the first 26 games, 16 times in the first 48 games and only 6 times in the last 34 games. Their record was 13-11-2 (28 points), 27-17-4 (58 points) & 19-8-7 (45 points) in those stretches, respectively. That’s comes to points percentage stats of .538, .604 & .662.
Marc-Andre Fleury-45; Filip Gustavsson-37
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Both Coaches Playing “The Game”, too:
Other Notes
Other Links you might be interested in:
Fleury laments ’embarrassing’ performance in Game 2 for Wild
&
Boldy building confidence to become key piece for Wild in West 1st Round
by Tracey Myers @Tramyers_NHL / NHL.com Staff Writer
NHL Network to premiere ‘NHL Regular Season Awards Show’ on Saturday
by NHL Public Relations @PR_NHL
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Next up:
Game 3 on Friday night at 8:30pm or sometime around that time since the Wild are the 2nd game of the night on TBS. It will also air on Bally Sports North.
Thanks for Reading!!!
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