ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Matt Duchene tied it or Dallas on a power play midway through the third period, seconds after his backcheck on Matt Boldy averted a short-handed goal that would’ve put Minnesota up by two, and the Stars and Wild headed to double overtime early Thursday in Game 3 of their spirited first-round series.
The Wild had two power plays in the first overtime, with 1:10 left on the man advantage to carry into the second overtime.
Seconds
after the audible thump from Stars goalie Jake Oettinger's blocker save on Brock Faber's slap shot, the Wild had another prime opportunity to win it when Quinn Hughes drew a tripping penalty on Sam Steel.
But even with Stars defenseman Radek Faksa playing most of that penalty kill without a stick, the Wild failed to generate much pressure. Jamie Benn's holding penalty on Nick Foligno gave them another try.
Oettinger and Wild goalie Jesper Wallstedt each made 26 saves over the first four periods.
The Wild killed four penalties between Mikko Rantanen's power play tip-in just 1:25 into the game and Duchene's crowd-quieting snap shot that slipped between defenseman Jared Spurgeon and the near post. That included 40 seconds of a 5-on-3 after Boldy's delay-of-game penalty late in the second period.
As soon as he left the box, Spurgeon saw an opening to start a rush that Michael McCarron finished with his first goal in the NHL playoffs to give the Wild a 3-2 lead.
Jason Robertson scored after a slick stretch pass by Duchene to put the Stars up 2-0 in the first period.
Marcus Johansson scored on a power play to start the rally less than five minutes later, and Joel Eriksson Ek had the tying goal in the second after a brilliant setup by Boldy. The U.S. Olympian, who had a career-high 42 goals during the regular season, weaved through four Stars skaters and drew a crowd behind the net before zipping the puck back into the slot for Eriksson Ek to knock in.
Entering these playoffs, the winner of Game 3 after a split of the first two games in a best-of-seven went on to win the series nearly two-thirds of the time (245 of 369) in NHL history.
The Wild, who have not advanced in the postseason since 2015, fell on the flip side of that ratio in each of their last three appearances. They won Game 3 to go up 2-1 on Vegas last year, on Dallas in 2023 and on St. Louis in 2022, before being eliminated with three straight losses every time.
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AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
