Wild outshine Stars in 5-1 Game 3 victory by playing cleaner, smarter; take lead in series

The Wild moved up in the series while playing down a key player.

Despite being shorthanded on the bench for all but one shift, the Wild outshined the Stars 5-1 on Friday at Xcel Energy Center to hold onto home-ice advantage with a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.

Next up is Game 4 in St. Paul at 5:30 p.m. Sunday (BSN, TBS).

"We're playing a really good team, and we know we have to be at our best to have a chance to beat these guys," Mats Zuccarello said. "It was a solid effort all around, and everyone chipped in – whether it was offensively or defensively. Whatever we needed, we chipped in."

Zuccarello scored twice, while Marcus Johansson, Marcus Foligno and Ryan Hartman had a goal each and goaltender Filip Gustavsson pocketed a ho-hum 23 saves in his return to the crease after backstopping the Wild to their double overtime, Game 1 victory.

Gustavsson replacing Marc-Andre Fleury was one of a handful of changes the Wild made after they were routed 7-3 by Dallas in Game 2.

Joel Eriksson Ek, John Klingberg and Hartman all were back from injury, with Eriksson Ek and Klingberg making their first-round debut and Hartman playing after sitting out Game 2.

"Plan was to play," Hartman said. "No pain."

But not everyone stayed in action.

Eriksson Ek exited after just 19 seconds, the first shift of the night after he received a robust ovation when he was announced as part of the Wild's starting lineup. The center had been out with a lower-body injury suffered on April 6 when he blocked a shot.

After the game, coach Dean Evason said the team will know more about Eriksson Ek's status after he's been evaluated again on Saturday.

"He was obviously in a lot of pain, and knowing he can't go it's something serious," Foligno said. "So, we hope it's nothing too bad. But we'll see. The guy's a leader on this team, and we feel for him."

With Eriksson Ek gone, the Wild had one less player than the Stars but they didn't show it.

Zuccarello backhanded in a puck that deflected right to him with 3 minutes, 15 seconds left in the first period to extend his point streak in the playoffs to three games. The sequence was put in motion by Klingberg, his shot caroming off Hartman to Zuccarello for a thunderous response from the crowd of 19,309.

Just 2:14 into the second period, Johansson tallied his second goal of the series, a highlight-reel toe-drag around Dallas' Colin Miller to set up a blistering shot that landed behind Lakeville's Jake Oettinger (20 saves).

"We played heavy when we had to and when opportunities came for skill, you saw Jojo's goal, he's able to make plays, and he had another couple chances that hit the post," Hartman said. "Just all around I think it was a really good Minnesota Wild hockey game."

On the very next shift only 11 seconds later, the Stars answered back when Luke Glendening pounced on a loose puck in front of Gustavsson. But that didn't ignite Dallas.

Part of the reason why was the Wild were much cleaner than in Game 2, their decision-making preventing the play from opening up like it did when the Stars' offense took over.

"They gave me a very easy job out there," Gustavsson said. "I don't think they had a single odd-man rush or 2-on-1 or 3-on-2 or anything like that today. I think we had over 10 in Game 2, so that's such a big difference."

The other factor?

Dallas kept taking penalties, and the Wild capitalized on the power play (1-for-4) to reinstate their two-goal buffer albeit after needing video verification.

Foligno tipped in a Gus Nyquist shot at 11:24 of the second and although the goal was initially disallowed, the review showed Foligno clipped the puck while his stick was the height of the crossbar for a legal tally.

"I just felt like it was good," Foligno said. "It wasn't like I got in front of it, and it was on my downward motion too, which I think helped reverse it."

The assist was Nyquist's fourth of the postseason, and he became the first player in Wild history to pick up a point in each of his first three playoff games with the team. Nyquist, an in-season trade acquisition, has factored into the offense every game he's suited up for the Wild; that's nine points in six appearances, which came after the winger was on the mend for two-plus months to heal up a shoulder injury.

In the third period, the Zuccarello, Hartman and Klingberg combination delivered another goal.

This time, Zuccarello converted off a breakaway with 5:53 left before Hartman sunk a 160-foot empty-netter with 1:50 to go.

"That's how our team plays, and that's how we need to play," Foligno said. "We produced by playing simple and playing hard."

Not only was the Wild's power play effective, but their penalty kill had their first perfect showing of the playoffs.

The Wild went 2-for-2 after surrendering five goals to the Dallas power play off 11 chances through the first two games.

"We couldn't be in the penalty box with wearing guys out because guys had to double up," Evason said. "So, yeah, it was a real good effort mentally and obviously physically."

This tied the Wild's largest margin of victory in the playoffs on home ice, but it was how they arrived at that outcome that was more telling than the result itself.

"We played the way we wanted to, and this was a good 60-minute effort from us," Johansson said. "I feel like we earned the win, and onto the next one."