The Minnesota Wild will host the Dallas Stars for Game 3 of the First Round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs on April 22. The game is scheduled to begin at 8:30 p.m. and will be broadcast on TNT, truTV, HBO Max, FanDuel Sports Network, and KFAN FM 100.3.
This matchup follows two games played in Dallas, where Minnesota managed to split the series and temporarily secure home-ice advantage. Both teams have experienced physical play so far; Mats Zuccarello missed Game 2 due to injury, while Yakov Trenin left early after a hit from Colin Blackwell. Head Coach John Hynes said both Zuccarello and Trenin are game-time decisions for tonight’s contest.
Key players Joel Eriksson Ek and Kirill Kaprizov each have four points through two games, tying them for second among all skaters in the playoffs so far. Brock Faber leads all playoff skaters with a plus-6 rating and recently became only the second defenseman in franchise history to score multiple goals in a single playoff game.
Scoring first has proven significant in this series; each team that scored first went on to win their respective games. During the regular season, Minnesota held a record of 33-6-6 when scoring first overall and was particularly strong at home with a record of 16-2-4 under those circumstances. Dallas posted similar numbers with a road record of 18-1-2 when scoring first.
“The fans are going to be there, and they are going to get that building going,” said Wild forward Ryan Hartman after Game 2. “Hopefully we can get off to an early start and get them into it right away.” Previous Game 3s have favored Minnesota as well; last year against Vegas and in 2023 against Dallas they won both but ultimately lost each series in six games.
