The Minnesota Wild secured a playoff series victory over the Dallas Stars, as announced on May 2, marking their first advancement past the opening round since 2015. The team clinched the win in Game 6 on home ice, highlighted by rookie goaltender Jesper Wallstedt’s performance and Matt Boldy’s late empty-net goal.
The victory is significant for both the franchise and its supporters, ending a streak of early postseason exits in recent years. Wallstedt said he realized the importance of the moment when he saw fans visibly moved during Game 6: “I looked back through the glass, and I see someone crying in the stands,” Wallstedt said. “I realize how big this is for our fan base. Not just us, but there’s so many more people who are with us on this road and this journey.”
The Wild opened the series strongly with a decisive Game 1 win but faced setbacks as Dallas evened up after two games. Despite losing a double-overtime thriller in Game 3 and falling behind in the series, Minnesota rebounded to tie things up with an overtime victory in Game 4. Brock Faber commented on overcoming previous disappointments: “This is a new team,” Faber said. “We write our own story. Every team has their own story. Every team has their own ups and downs.
“We knew we were the better team; we just had to go prove it, and that is what we did.”
Veteran Mats Zuccarello returned from injury to contribute alongside Kirill Kaprizov in pivotal moments during Games 5 and 6. Vladimir Tarasenko scored his milestone fiftieth career playoff goal during Game 6, saying: “I had not a dream, but I was thinking one day about that it would be nice to score 50 goals in the playoffs,” Tarasenko said. “It was a long way to do it, but it’s so nice.”
Wallstedt finished his first playoff series allowing only fourteen goals across six games with a .924 save percentage. As fans celebrated at Xcel Energy Center following Boldy’s second empty-netter late in regulation of Game 6, Kaprizov reflected: “This one feels pretty good… somebody here play twelve years…and we never get first round done.
“It feels pretty good.”
Marcus Foligno summed up what advancing meant for longtime players: “You think there’s a curse… I’m just happy for our fans and just excited for our organization and for the guys that have put in a lot of work.” Looking ahead, both players and coaches stressed maintaining focus as they prepare for further postseason challenges.