Destruction in Dallas Game 2 Wild @ Stars

 

Dallas came surging back in Game 2. After the overtime loss in Game 1 and the loss of Joe Pavelski, they were ready for Game 2, and boy were they good.

The Wild quickly got on the powerplay in the first period getting off to what looked like a great start until Roope Hintz was left on a shorthanded breakaway that led to a goal. The Wild were not able to capitalize on the powerplay and a few minutes after, Dallas got a powerplay of themselves. The penalty was a double minor for high-sticking that was caused by a Stars playing lifting the stick of Jake Middleton into Max Domi's face. While I don't agree with the call watching the replay, you have to give the officials the benefit of the doubt on that call. In the heat of the moment the officials see a stick come up and hit Domi. Tyler Seguin was able to get one past Fleury making it a 2-0 stars lead halfway through the first. The Wild were able to get one back on a redirection by Oskar Sundqvist. The Wild traded for Sundqvist at the deadline, but he has been out with an injury until last night. The Wild went into the intermission down 2-1 despite Dallas having control and pressure for most of the first period.

Shortly after the start of the second period the Stars drew a penalty off Jon Merrill cross-checking Jamie Benn for basically no reason at all. Benn was then the one to score on the power play extending Dallas' lead 3-1. Johansson took a shot on goal that missed terribly and wrapped all the way around the boards giving Dallas an odd man rush, who played tik-tac-toe to get a shot onto Fleury and Dadonov buried the rebound. 4-1 Dallas. Jani Hakanpaa was called for holding on Middleton putting the Wild on the powerplay in which Johansson was able to find the back of the net making it 4-2. Very quickly after Freddy Gaudreau was able to cut through the Dallas defense and reduce the lead to 1. Late into the second Dallas got a shot onto Fleury from the point that was redirected through the 5-hole by Dadonov to put Dallas up 5-3. Not even a minute after Johansson made another error, missing a pass to Dumba in which Roope Hintz was able to jump on and get onto another breakaway. Fleury made what was probably the worst attempt at a poke check I have ever seen and let it in for Dallas to go up 6-3 going into the third.

At this point the Wild still had a chance but things looked grim. The Wild got handed a handful of powerplays in the third, but couldn't capitalize on any of them. Instead Dallas got a powerplay of their own where Hintz was able to score for a hat-trick and that was the dagger. For the rest of the third there was a lot of scrapping, fighting, cheap shots, etc. A total of 7 players were tossed from the game, 4 on the Wild and 3 on the Stars for continuous fighting.

In the post-game interview Dean Evason was asked why they started Fleury after such a good performance by Gustavsson in Game 1. Dean replied "We've done it all year. The game, nothing was on Flower tonight. It was all on us." I really disagree with this statement. Fleury in my opinion can be held accountable for at least 3-4 of the goals, especially the dumb poke check on the Hintz breakaway and throwing the puck out into danger for what I believe was the 5th goal. I get that Evason has been switching goalies all year, but this is playoff hockey, you always go with the hot hand, no matter your regular season strategy. Its a whole different game than the regular season. You need to ensure success in any way possible. Do I think the Wild would have won with Gustavsson in net last night? No. However, it would have been a lot closer. I do have some mixed feelings on this though. Before the game started, I would have started Gustavsson no problem, but if I would have known how poorly the rest of the Wild would play, honestly Fleury ended up not being a terrible choice. Knowing the Wild would have lost this game no matter what goalie was in net, there is a sense of comfort that Gustavsson will be fresh and good to go for the 2 game home stand in St. Paul. If he continues to dominate in net, I hope Evason will realize he needs to keep starting him.

Player Profiles

Roope Hintz

I talked about this in my Game 1 post. I said Hintz was going to be an issue especially if Pavleski was out, and look what happened. Hintz stepped up in a big way last night scoring a hat-trick to help the Stars tie the series. The Wild need to watch him. He has elite speed that allows him to start breaks with ease, especially if the Wild keep turning the puck over.

Marcus Johansson

Johansson went from brilliant to brutal between games 1 and 2. He was everywhere on the ice and impacting the game greatly in game 1. In game 2 he had 2 terrible turnovers that both led to goals. He was also carrying it into the zone by himself a lot with open wingers on the boards. Hopefully Johansson can pick up where he left off game 1.

The Entire Wild Defense

Not one player was specifically bad for the defense, but they were just off. Allowing odd man rushes all over the place. Just need to sharpen up for Game 3.

Wild Special Teams

Actually in both games the Wild special teams have not been great. The Stars are 5/11 on the powerplay, which is an astronomical percentage that needs to come down if the Wild want to keep pucks out of their net. The Wild are also 2/9 on their own powerplay, which isn't great either

Dallas Special Teams

If Dallas special teams keep up at the current pace, and the Wild don't figure it out, they are going to take this series. It almost feels like an automatic goal if Dallas goes on the powerplay at this point.