Dallas Stars have the advantage on Wild when lots of penalties are called

Wild forward Marcus Foligno added some spice to his team’s first-round NHL playoff series against the Dallas Stars after the teams split the first two games by declaring, “They’re looking to play 5-on-4. That’s their game. They can’t hang with us 5-on-5.” The response from the Stars came Wednesday night, April 22, in Game 3 at Grand Casino Arena. Channeling the Walter White character from “Breaking Bad,” the Stars basically threw up their hands in false surrender and said, “You got me.” And that’s a problem for the Wild, who keep stampeding to the penalty box and feeding the Stars’ strength. Dallas scored three power-play goals, the last on Wyatt Johnston’s tip-in at 12:10 of the second overtime, and emerged with a 4-3 victory that produced a 2-1 series lead for the Texans. The Stars went 3-for-8 on power plays, also cashing in 1:05 into the first period on a tally by Mikko Rantanen and at 10:18 of the third on Matt Duchene’s goal that tied the score 3-3. “Our specialty teams have been outstanding,” Dallas coach Glen Gulutzan said. “… Our power play has been a catalyst from the beginning to get us off to a great start this year." Those special teams were even more important in a game that ended at 12:54 a.m. on Thursday. Despite all their faults on a power play that went 1-for-7, the Wild rallied from two goals down in the first period to take a 3-2 lead late in the second on Michael McCarron’s goal after a key penalty kill. Minnesota carried play in the first overtime, holding Dallas to two shots on goal, but couldn’t convert on a power play in the first OT or on one that carried over into the second OT. “It’s been tons of penalties on both sides. First round, sometimes it’s like that,” McCarron said. “The refs are amped up just like us and maybe trigger-happy. But at the same time, we gave up three penalty kills That’s not ideal. They got three power-play goals, and it’s probably the difference in the game.” It’s becoming the difference in the series, too. The Wild went 2-for-4 on the power play to the Stars’ 1-for-4 in Game 1 and won 6-1. Dallas went 2-for-5 to the Wild’s 0-for-4 in Game 2 and won 4-2. For the series, Dallas is 6-for-17 with the man advantage while Minnesota is 3-for-15. “One thing about our power play this year is that we’re not really letting anything rattle us,” Stars center Matt Duchene said. “… Even if we get a little squirrely, we just go right back at it." The Stars’ penalty killers have been on point, too. They’re 10-for-11 on kills in the past two games, allowing only Marcus Johansson’s power-play goal late in the first period of Game 3. The Wild will try to change that narrative in Game 3 at 4:30 p.m. Saturday, April 25, at Grand Casino Arena. Scoggins: Wild winger Matt Boldy shows his star status despite Game 3 loss to Stars Oh, brother, where art thou? Marcus and Nick Foligno are finally on the same NHL team with the Wild. A key factor to the Stars’ strong play with the man advantage has been their work in the circle. Dallas won 12 of 16 faceoffs while on the power play in Game 3. Johnston was especially strong, going 6-2 in those situations. Duchene’s tying goal in the third came with the Wild’s Bobby Brink in the box for tripping. Earlier in the period, Matt Boldy made what appeared to be an emphatic clear on a penalty kill but got too much air under the puck and deposited it in the far netting behind the Dallas goal for a delay of game call. In the second overtime, a gassed Danila Yurov tried to clear the puck rather than ice it but sent it out of play for a delay of game penalty. That was one penalty too many for the Wild to take — and an extra chance that the Stars gladly accepted. “Our first [power play] we had in overtime was really good. We just didn’t score,” Duchene said. “And it’s like, ‘OK, if you do that again, you’ve just got to stay with it.’ We had to make every shift count and every moment count.”