Takeaways: Zuccarello's return provides boost as Wild push Stars to edge

Jason Robertson has been a one-man scoring machine for the Dallas Stars in the first round of the playoffs, and he extended his goal streak to five games Tuesday night. But it wasn’t enough to erase the Stars’ weakness at even-strength. 

Minnesota’s 4-2 victory, secured on the back of Kirill Kaprizov’s three-point night and another excellent outing by Jesper Wallstedt, now gives the Wild a 3-2 series edge as this heavyweight bout shifts north to the State of Hockey with an opportunity for the home side to advance to Round 2 for the first time in more than a decade. 

Here’s what we learned in Game 5.

Zuccarello’s back in the lineup (and on the scoresheet)

After missing the last three games, forward Mats Zuccarello made his return to the Wild lineup and wasted no time making his presence known. 

The top-line winger fired a wrist shot past Jake Oettinger less than four minutes into Game 5, a welcome sight for Wild fans. Zuccarello’s reinsertion into the lineup gives Minnesota a massive boost, rebalancing the lines — and the power-play units, too.

The 38-year-old contributed three assists in Game 1, two of which came with the man advantage, and he was on the ice for Matt Boldy’s second-period power-play marker Tuesday night — perhaps a sign of more PP success to come after a tough stretch with the man advantage. 

Tuesday also brought the return of Yakov Trenin after a two-game absence. Trenin contributed an assist in the matchup, but his impact was really felt on the physical front. The NHL’s regular-season hits leader led all players on the ice with seven hits.

Robertson’s scoring spree reaches five

Any questions about whether Jason Robertson’s regular-season success would translate to the post-season have long been answered. The Stars’ RFA-to-be, who tallied 45 goals in the regular season, has scored in all five matchups of Dallas’ first-round series against Minnesota so far. He kept the streak alive with a late goal in four-on-four play (Dallas pulled the goalie for the extra attacker to make it five-on-four) to bring the Stars within one. While it wasn’t quite enough to spark a comeback, it was enough to write Robertson’s name into 2026 post-season lore. 

Go back even further to last spring, and Robertson has scored at least one goal in eight straight playoff games (he had two in Game 6 of the Western Conference Final against Edmonton last May). 

Dallas’ depth remains dormant

Robertson, of course, isn’t the only big name stepping up for the Stars. Wyatt Johnston has three goals in five games, Matt Duchene and Miro Heiskanen each have two (including one for Heiskanen Tuesday night), and Mikko Rantanen has one. 

But that concludes the list of Dallas goal-scorers through five games. The Stars’ lack of depth contributions has been a glaring weakness in this series, and it’s not limited to just goals — only nine different players have contributed at least one point through five games. 

Compared to the contributions that’ve come from up and down Minnesota’s lineup, it’s a pretty stark difference in depth. Nine different Wild players have at least one goal this series, the list now including Zuccarello following his first of these playoffs Tuesday night. All but two players — Zach Bogosian and Danila Yurov — have registered at least one point for the Wild. 

Michael McCarron’s five-hole goal against Oettinger, which ultimately served as the game-winner, was a perfect example of the value of depth at this time of year. The trade deadline acquisition has brought a real boost to the Wild’s bottom six — something the Stars are sorely missing right now. 

Minnesota dominates at even strength, but PK needs help

The Wild weren’t necessarily known for putting up a fight on the penalty kill in the regular season, ranking 16^th in the category, but in these playoffs, it’s been a real problem. 

Through five games against the Stars, Dallas has potted nine goals on 23 opportunities for a 39.1 per cent success rate. Miro Heiskanen’s first-period power-play marker kept Dallas’ PP goal streak intact — they’ve scored at least one power-play goal in each game this season. Dallas’ PP was a perfect two-for-two in Game 4. They potted three in Game 3. The unit has been nearly unstoppable. 

On the flipside, the Stars have done next to nothing at even-strength, with Minnesota winning that battle by a long shot. While Robertson’s third-period goal Tuesday night was technically scored at even-strength, the squads were playing at four-on-four, with Dallas pulling the goalie to give them a fifth skater. The last time the Stars scored while playing at five-on-five was in the first period of Game 3.