Tyler Seguin’s second power-play goal of the night proved to be the game-winner, and the Dallas Stars claimed a 3-2 victory over the Minnesota Wild on Sunday in St. Paul, Minn., to even their first-round Western Conference playoff series.
Evgenii Dadonov also scored for the Stars, who tied the best-of-seven Stanley Cup playoff series 2-2.
Goaltender Jake Oettinger sparkled while making 32 saves, including stops on second-period breakaway chances for Marcus Foligno and Kirill Kaprizov and a clutch stop on Marcus Johansson in the dying seconds of the game to preserve the win. Roope Hintz collected three assists, giving him eight points (four goals, four assists) in the series.
John Klingberg netted one goal and tallied one assist and Frederick Gaudreau added a goal for the Wild. Goalie Filip Gustavsson stopped 21 shots.
Game 5 of the series will be Tuesday in Dallas.
Seguin finally broke the deadlock of a tight game with 4:18 remaining in the second period. Jason Robertson’s long shot pinballed on its way to the net and was stopped, but the puck rebounded off Seguin’s skate and back through the legs of a startled Gustavsson.
Dadonov doubled the lead 3:05 into the third period. After the Wild failed to convert on a power play, Dadonov was on a two-on-two rush and fired a long shot through a screen that found the mark for his third goal of the playoffs.
Seconds after he pulled a puck off the goal line behind his net, Klingberg gave the Wild a much-needed boost 5:58 into the third period when he buried a long shot for his first goal of the series.
However, Seguin’s third goal of the series, a top-shelf offering from the slot, with 3:31 remaining in regulation restored the two-goal edge for Dallas.
It held up as the winner with Gaudreau netting a power-play goal of his own with 80 seconds remaining in regulation, but the Wild could not find the equalizer.
Dallas has scored seven power-play goals (7-for-16) in the series.
–Field Level Media
