Dominant defense smothers Stars in Wild's G5 win
After trailing this Western Conference quarterfinal series, 2-1, the Minnesota Wild have now won consecutive games, the last being a 4-2 victory over the Dallas Stars on Tuesday night, and are now one win away from advancing for the first time since 2015.
DALLAS -- The Minnesota Wild are now one win away from advancing to the second round for the first time in more than a decade.
And they're in that position after suffocating one of the NHL's best attacks in a 4-2 win Tuesday against the Dallas Stars in Game 5 of the Western Conference quarterfinals.
The series resumes Thursday in St. Paul, Minnesota, where the Wild will have the first of two attempts to capture a playoff series since they last did it in 2015 when they beat the St. Louis Blues in six games before losing in the second round to the Chicago Blackhawks .
"I think it's the guys we have in here now," said Wild forward Marcus Foligno , who has been with the franchise since 2017. "I think it's a little bit different. I think we have a lot of leadership and guys that are experienced. You get a guy like Michael McCarron tonight that steps up. Our penalty kill does the job and the goaltending. I just think that there's always been someone every night that's stepped up to help this team."
Opening the series with a 6-1 win was immense for a few reasons. It gave the Wild the upper hand and their first Game 1 playoff series since 2023. Furthermore, it also showed that the Wild could generate and capitalize on scoring chances, a sign of growth from a team that had previously struggled to do both in previous playoff trips.
The way they stuck with the Stars, who have reached three straight Western Conference finals, in consecutive overtime contests in Games 3 and 4 also reinforced how comfortable they performed in tight situations.