The Minnesota Wild defeated the Dallas Stars 3-2 in overtime on April 26, tying their Western Conference First Round playoff series at two games each. Matt Boldy scored the game-winning goal with just 29 seconds left in overtime at Grand Casino Arena.
The outcome keeps both teams even in the best-of-seven series, raising the stakes for Game 5. The result came after a tightly contested match where both sides had leads and disallowed goals.
Jared Spurgeon took the initial shot from the point that Boldy redirected at the left post for the winner. “It was a great forecheck (by Joel Eriksson Ek and Kirill (Kaprizov), and a great shot by Jared,” Boldy said. “I was just lucky enough to have it hit my stick and go in.” Earlier, Boldy appeared to score with over five minutes remaining in overtime, but that goal was immediately waved off due to a kicking motion. “The kick one I basically knew right away,” he said. “It was just kind of a natural reaction.”
Marcus Foligno tied the game for Minnesota late in regulation after controlling his own rebound while falling over Dallas goalie Jake Oettinger and backhanding it into the net. “There’s a lot of belief in here,” Foligno said. “These are two unreal teams, and we’ve got to understand they’re a heck of a hockey club and it’s going to take this type of effort every night against this squad… We took a lot of positives out of (a 4-3 double overtime loss in Game 3 on Wednesday) and we got rewarded tonight.” Brock Faber contributed with one goal and an assist, while Jesper Wallstedt made 43 saves for Minnesota.
For Dallas, Jason Robertson opened scoring with a power-play goal early on, extending his postseason streaks as noted by team history statistics mentioned during play. Miro Heiskanen added another power-play tally late in the second period but acknowledged missed opportunities: “That’s how it goes sometimes in the playoffs,” Heiskanen said.
Both coaches reflected on their teams’ performances under pressure. Minnesota coach John Hynes said: “I just think our mindset is more taking whatever the game is giving us… regardless of what happens, we’re focused on playing how we need to play regardless of circumstances.” Dallas coach Glen Gulutzan commented: “These are player games… It’s really now hand-to-hand combat, and blue paint (battles), for both sides.” Looking ahead to Game 5 set for Tuesday at American Airlines Center, Mikko Rantanen remarked: “We got home ice now and it’s best-of-3… This group has been in this situation before so we’re pretty familiar.”