Minnesota playoff chances took a huge blow after falling to Dallas 4-0 on Tuesday night. The Stars now lead the best-of-7 series 3-2.
The Wild’s misfortune began in the early stages of the game when Marcus Foligno was given a 5-minute major and game misconduct, resulting in an ejection for “kneeing” Dallas’ Radek Faksa only 2:14 into the game. The Stars would capitalize on the powerplay early with Tyler Seguin scoring only eight seconds into the man advantage. Dallas leads 1-0. Then at the 11:04 mark of the opening period Jason Robertson capitalized on a powerplay opportunity giving the Stars a 2-0 lead.
Marcus Foligno received a five minute major for this knee-on-knee hit on Radek Faksa#mnwild | #TexasHockey pic.twitter.com/Nz5O7Mydir
— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights (@HockeyDaily365) April 26, 2023
The NHL on TNT crew broke down the Foligno penalty that led to his ejection:
It changed the ENTIRE complexion of the game.
So the @NHL_On_TNT crew broke down the Marcus Foligno kneeing major from every angle pic.twitter.com/QKksAJk2EO
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) April 26, 2023
The second period wasn’t any better for the Wild as Dallas’ Mason Marchment scored 1:19 into the period extending the Star’s lead to 3-0.
The game’s final dagger would come in the third period. Ty Dellandrea scored an empty netter goal at the 16:03 mark, 4-0 Dallas.
Minnesota’s Filip Gustavsson did all he could between the pipes, saving 21 of the 24 shots he faced. Lakeville, Minn. native, Jake Oettinger was flawless for Dallas stopping all 27 shots on net in the shutout.
The Wild will return home to the Xcel Energy Center on Friday night for Game 6 as they look to keep their season alive.
