Kirill Kaprizov had a goal and two assists and the Minnesota Wild beat the Stars 4-2 in Game 5 of their Western Conference first-round playoff series Tuesday night in Dallas.
The No. 3-seeded Wild lead the best-of-seven series 3-2 with Game 6 set for Thursday night in Minnesota. The series winner advances to meet the No. 1-seeded Colorado Avalanche.
“We knew it was going to be a long series.,” Stars captain Jamie Benn said. “We feel we could be up 3-2 but we’re not and that’s just hockey. Now we get to go on the road and win one game. That’s all it is and we’ve been a great road team all year.”
Trailing 3-1, No. 2 seed Dallas pulled goalie Jake Oettinger during 4-on-4 play late in the third period and scored with the man advantage as Jason Robertson’s centering pass deflected in off Minnesota’s Jared Spurgeon in front at 16:39 to make it 3-2.
Kaprizov scored into an empty net at 18:00 for the 4-2 final.
The Wild entered the game being outscored 8-3 on the power play in the series. Both teams scored with the man advantage on Tuesday.
“On special teams we’ve been really snake-bitten,” Minnesota’s Michael McCarron said. “For us to come through in a hostile environment and prove that we can still kill penalties and still score goals on power plays, that was huge for us tonight.”
Matt Boldy had a goal and an assist, and Mats Zuccarello and McCarron also scored for the Wild. Jesper Wallstedt made 20 saves in the win.
Robertson and Miro Heiskanen each had a goal and an assist for the Stars, and Oettinger made 24 saves.
Zuccarello, who had missed the past three games with an upper-body injury sustained in Game 1, gave the Wild a 1-0 lead at 3:51 of the first period.
Kaprizov collected his own rebound and passed across the crease to Zuccarello, who tucked it in at the right post.
“They’re doing a great job in front of their goalie,,” Benn said, “so we’ve got to keep digging in, throwing pucks in front of their goalie.”
Heiskanen tied it with a 50-foot power-play snipe at 8:58. Robertson received a pass in the left circle from Matt Duchene and passed to Heiskanen, who scored on a one-timer from the center point.
Boldy appeared to give the Wild a 2-1 lead with 12.9 seconds left in the first period, but the Stars challenged for goaltender interference, and it was ruled that Boldy pushed Oettinger’s pad with his stick.
Boldy did give the Wild a 2-1 lead with a power-play goal at 19:28 of the second period. Boldy took a return pass along the boards from Quinn Hughes, skated toward the slot and banged a wrist shot in off the far slot from above the right circle.
McCarron made it 3-1 at 7:47 of the third period when he chased down a loose puck, went to the net and chipped the puck past Oettinger.
–Field Level Media
