ST. PAUL, Minn. — Whereas some contend that jinxes aren’t actual, good omens positively are.
Twelve years to the day after Nino Niederreiter’s Recreation 7 extra time winner in Denver gave the Minnesota Wild their first playoff sequence win in 11 years, the Wild superior previous the primary spherical for the primary time in … 11 years on Thursday night time, rallying to eradicate the Dallas Stars in six video games with a 5-2 win.
After eight consecutive first-round exits, the Wild will get to play previous Spherical 1 for the primary time since beating the St. Louis Blues within the 2015 Western Convention quarterfinal.
Ready within the wings are the Colorado Avalanche, the NHL’s finest group from begin to end this season. The Wild went 2-1-1 in opposition to them in the course of the common season, with every group profitable as soon as in regulation and every group profitable as soon as in a shootout.
Fittingly, in a season through which issues have been largely presupposed to be totally different due to the winter’s blockbuster commerce for a famous person defenseman, it was Quinn Hughes who scored two humongous objectives within the victory.
Hughes’ game-winner got here with 9:22 left when his shot towards the online ricocheted in off defenseman Ilya Lyubushkin’s proper skate.
Hughes additionally assisted on Vladimir Tarasenko’s objective, which got here as a solution simply 54 seconds after Mavrik Bourque’s objective had given the Stars a lead within the second. It was Tarasenko’s fiftieth profession playoff objective.
The sport ended fittingly, with two Matt Boldy empty-netters — the primary after Jamie Benn, who earlier within the sequence slew-footed and cross-checked Boldy within the head, coughed it up.
Jesper Wallstedt made 22 saves to change into the primary rookie goalie in Wild historical past to win a playoff spherical. The loss ends Dallas’ season after three consecutive journeys to the convention closing.
The finale of an evenly matched sequence was a tight-checking, bodily affair, with Minnesota as soon as once more doing a masterful job defending the Stars at even energy. The Wild outscored the Stars 14-4 at five-on-five in six video games.
The Avs might be one other animal, with the starpower of Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar and Martin Necas. And the Wild appear to be they might be with out stalwart defenseman Jonas Brodin for a bit.
However this was one spectacular sequence win in opposition to the regular-season’s third-best group with 112 factors. The Wild will head into the second spherical hovering with confidence.