The hockey world was braced for impact as the puck dropped between the Minnesota Wild and the Dallas Stars, two Central Division juggernauts on a collision course for a first-round bout nearly all season.
But on Saturday in Dallas, only one side showed up.
The Wild were flat-out dominant in the 6-1 series-opening victory for the visitors, scoring a power-play stunner in the first frame and building a four-goal lead in the second. The Stars, meanwhile, were just… flat.
A fearsome group of goal-scorers were quieted, with only Jason Robertson getting on the board.
The Stars’ fearsome blue line was easily navigated by Minnesota’s top playmakers, while the Wild’s own star duo of defenders in Quinn Hughes and Brock Faber had their fingerprints all over the victory (even if the scoresheet didn’t reflect it). Minnesota’s rookie netminder, Jesper Wallstedt, played like a veteran while Dallas’ Jake Oettinger struggled to find his game.
Matt Boldy led Minnesota’s offensive charge with two goals and an assist, while Joel Eriksson Ek potted a pair of power-play markers. Add Mats Zuccarello’s trio of assists, Kirill Kaprizov’s goal and two helpers, and one of each for Ryan Hartman, five Wild forwards registered multi-point games.
A series widely predicted to go the distance could end in an early knockout for Dallas if the Stars’ offence can’t find a way to match that pace. We all know they have the personnel to pull it off, but the team that hit the ice on Saturday looked in need of a spark.
Rookie Wallstedt shines in debut
A season that began with a clear No. 1 netminder in Filip Gustavsson saw the formation of one of the NHL’s finest goalie tandems as rookie Jesper Wallstedt played his way into the starter’s slot more and more. Questions about which goalie would get the net for Game 1 generated plenty of speculation — conventional thought pointed to the veteran, and perhaps a short leash should he falter. But in Wallstedt’s red-hot play down the final stretch of the season, which coincided with the relative cooling off of Gustavsson’s game, Wild head coach John Hynes had his answer. He rewarded the 23-year-old’s efforts by handing him the crease for Game 1 on Saturday, and Wallstedt rewarded his coach in return with a 27-save performance to claim the victory.
It was a playoff debut worthy of his nickname. The Wall of St. Paul, as he’s fondly known in The State of Hockey, was perfect in even-strength play on Saturday. He allowed just a single power-play goal — Jason Robertson, with a backhander in close late in the second period — and just when it looked like Dallas might spark a comeback attempt in the minutes that followed, Wallstedt promptly shut things down with veteran-like poise.
Hynes’ faith in the rookie clearly paid off. And the focus now shifts to the man in the blue paint at the opposite end of the rink…
Gulutzan sticks with Oettinger through shaky start
It wasn’t quite shades of Game 5 against Edmonton last year, when Jake Oettinger allowed two goals on two shots and was dramatically pulled less than eight minutes into the must-win matchup. But after allowing four goals through 40 minutes of Saturday’s playoff opener against Minnesota, it was hard not to wonder if this post-season might start the way last year’s ended for Dallas’s No. 1 netminder.
Confidence in the crease can be a fragile thing, especially with the stakes this high and the lofty expectations around this team after three straight trips to the Western Conference Final. Through much of Game 1, Oettinger looked like he lacked it. Albeit, the same can be said for much of the team in front of him, as Minnesota dictated the pace of the game and stifled the Stars’ attempt to match it.
But rather than pulling Oettinger after two periods in hopes of generating a spark by plugging in backup Casey DeSmith, Stars head coach Glen Gulutzan stuck with his No. 1, putting all confidence in Oettinger to finish strong in what quickly became a lost cause for the club. It was the right decision — not necessarily for the bottom line (Oettinger faced just five shots in the final frame, allowing a second power-play goal) but in sending a message that Oettinger is the guy. This loss was not squarely on his shoulders — the coach and the team know that.
Asked post-game about a possible goalie change between periods, Gulutzan was quick to make clear that wasn’t a consideration he entertained. He laid no blame on the netminder, instead pointing out the difficult position he was in on several goals — notably, Hartman’s deflection in the second, and the defensive collapse that led to Boldy’s chip-in three minutes later.
“Nothing, for me, was on our goaltending,” Gulutzan told reporters. That sounds like a coach ready to stick with his No. 1 for Game 2, but time will tell if Oettinger remains the top option.
Minnesota’s power play is a thing of beauty
You wouldn’t know it based on how Game 1 played out, but you’d be hard-pressed to find two playoff opponents as well-matched as these ones. Everyone knew going into this battle that special teams would be key. And we saw that first-hand on Saturday.
Minnesota opened the scoring with a power-play marker just five minutes into the first frame of the game — a perfectly executed tic-tac-toe effort finished off by Eriksson Ek. It was a masterclass of playing with the man advantage by a team that’s excelled at it all year with the league’s third-ranked unit:
Dallas, which boasts the NHL’s second-ranked PP, also capitalized with the advantage late in the second, but Minnesota was the clear special-teams winner. They went two-for-four on the power-play (Eriksson Ek potted another early in the third), and while Boldy’s second-period goal to go up 4-0 was scored at even-strength, it came about 15 seconds after Mikko Rantanen was released from the sin bin and before the Stars could clear the zone. Dallas went one-for-four on the PP, with Robertson’s goal their lone marker of the matchup.
