Dallas's power play dominance and Minnesota's struggling penalty kill have tilted the series. Can the Wild fix their special teams before it's too late?
ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Minnesota Wild (1-2) didn’t lose Game 3 at five-on-five. They lost it everywhere else. It is shades of 2023 all over again.
The difference in a 2-1 series deficit isn’t complicated. It’s special teams. And right now, it’s not close.
The Dallas Stars (2-1) scored three times on the power play Thursday night. They got the opener, the equalizer in the third, and the winner in double overtime. Every swing in the game ran through the same channel and the Wild had no answer for it.
That’s the story. It was the story in 2023 as well when the Wild let up nine power-play goals to Dallas and lost in six games.
Minnesota entered the playoffs with one of the league’s best penalty kills after the trade deadline.
It hasn’t translated. Not even close.
Through three games, the Wild are killing penalties at 64.7 percent, while Dallas is operating at 35.3 percent on the power play.
That’s not a margin you survive in the postseason.
"Well, we lost it tonight, so it's not good enough," head coach John Hynes said. "We knew coming in that it was going to be a factor. And I would say that we had it in Game 1, we didn't have it in Game 2 and we didn't have it tonight. We got two days in between games to see if we can get it rolling here."
It’s not just the penalty kill.
The Wild’s power play, a unit that finished third in the NHL at 25.2 percent, has gone cold at the worst possible time.
Since Mats Zuccarello went down, Minnesota is 1-for-11 with the man advantage. The chances are there. The finish isn’t.
"Just keep going," Quinn Hughes said. "I mean you never know when you’re going to get hot on the power play. Might be next game. It could be the game after that. Like I just said, whether we were 4-for-4 on the power play tonight or 0-for-whatever we were, that doesn’t change how we have to approach the next game. You know, we’re going to need it again. Obviously, we had our looks to be the difference and it just didn’t go."
There’s a temptation to label it frustration. Inside the Wild's room, they’re not buying that.
"Absolutely none. No frustration," Matt Boldy said. "We had our chances, we had our looks. When they come, they come. No frustration there."
And when asked directly about the outside noise building around the power play struggles and the series turning, Boldy didn’t hesitate.
"We're still confident in our group. That was a heck of a hockey game. Back and forth, lot of chances, goals, saves, everything. It’s a long series. We were up 2-1 last year too. This whole narrative that we’re frustrated and all this, that’s not true. We’re still confident in our group. Let’s nip that in the bud now because it’s made up."
The belief is still there. It has to be. Because if this series is going to flip, it’s going to flip on special teams.
Jesper Wallstedt has seen enough to believe it will.
"Well I think we have a lot of guys who have been through this before," Jesper Wallstedt said. "We have a lot of veteran guys and guys who have played these types of games. It doesn't matter that we go down. We know we're going to give it a good fight next game. It's nice that we get a couple days now to maybe calm our feelings a little bit and then we'll get right back at it."
Two days to reset. Two days to fix what’s broken.
Because through three games, the Wild haven’t been beaten at even strength. They’ve been beaten by the whistle.
“It’s a reset. I think the fact we have a couple days in between games is a good thing for that," Hynes said. "But our group knows, and we talk about it, it’s true in the playoffs. If you win big, it’s going to be a different game the next game. If you lose in regulation or overtime or lose big, it’s always a reset that you don’t get too high and don’t get too low and you stay focused on what we can control and now it’s our preparation for Game 4.”
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