The Wild didn't make history.
Wild lose 3-2. Stars even series as two Foligno penalties become two Dallas goals
Dallas evened the series at two gales each, scoring power plays goals after two controversial penalties on Marcus Foligno. "It's a joke," he said afterward.
April 24, 2023 at 11:11AM
They repeated it.
Despite outplaying the Stars and owning the better chances, the Wild were denied their first ever 3-1 lead in a best-of-seven series by a 3-2 win for Dallas on Sunday in front of 19,331 at Xcel Energy Center that evened the series 2-2.
Game 5 is back in Dallas at 7 p.m. Tuesday.
"It's a great game by us and just didn't get the result," Marcus Foligno said. "It's playoffs. Just gotta forget and get ready for next game."
Lakeville's Jake Oettinger was solid, the goaltender picking up 32 saves to thwart a Wild offense that had no shortage of looks and top-notch ones at that.
As for the Stars' scorers, they were opportunistic, capitalizing not once but twice on the power play off questionable calls against Foligno.
"It's a joke," Foligno said. "It doesn't make any sense."
After Foligno checked Dallas' Jani Hakanpää behind the net, a collision that came with the puck nearby, Foligno was sent to the penalty box for interference.
During the ensuing power play, a Roope Hintz rebound bounced off Jared Spurgeon's skate before Tyler Seguin deflected the puck five-hole on Wild goalie Filip Gustavsson (21 saves) with 4 minutes, 18 seconds to go in the second period to break a scoreless tie.
The Wild sunk into a deeper hole in the third period when Evgenii Dadonov exited the penalty box and wired in a between-the-circles shot at 3:05, but John Klingberg responded only 2:53 later with a snap shot that flipped momentum to the Wild's side. That is, until another iffy call.
And at the center of the controversy?
You guessed it: Foligno.
He went to hit Mason Marchment and crashed awkwardly into the boards in front of the Dallas bench, getting up slowly and with blood dripping down his nose. But Foligno was the one penalized, for tripping.
While he was a spectator, the Stars moved ahead 3-1 on another power play tally from Seguin, this time with 3:31 left in the third. Dallas finished 2-for-3 on the power play; of the Stars' 13 goals in Round 1, just five have come at 5-on-5.
"I go to hit a guy. He touches the puck. It's not interference," Foligno said. "I get high-sticked in the face. It's not a tripping call when you hit a guy clean on."
That goal from Seguin became the game-winner because at 18:40 with Gustavsson on the bench for an extra attacker and the Wild on the power play, Frederick Gaudreau converted.
"There's no point in whining about it now," coach Dean Evason said when asked about the officiating. "We liked the way that we're playing the game: hard, physical, finishing our checks the right way, how playoff hockey should be played. It should be physical. It should be intense. It should be hitting hard.
"That's what playoff hockey is. We were doing that."
Those penalties against the Wild might not have stung so much if they took advantage of their earlier pressure.
After weathering the Stars' start, which included two shots off the post, the Wild tested Oettinger with a barrage of quality attempts.
"We got to our game in a hurry," Evason said.
There was a 2-on-1 break for Ryan Hartman and Kirill Kaprizov that stayed out and a breakaway for Foligno that resulted in two shots.
Next up was a Kaprizov breakaway, and that also didn't fool Oettinger.
The Wild power play (1-for-4) had zone time, too, but struggled to find a rhythm.
"A great goalie, obviously," Evason said, "and we've got to get some more looks, some scramble type of goals. We're getting the open ones, but we need to get a few around the dirty area and score a few more like we do."
The Wild have never led 3-1 in a best-of-seven series; this was their fourth try.
They most recently crumpled last year, a Game 4 loss to St. Louis the turning point before the Blues eliminated the Wild in six games. The Wild talked about learning from the situation and although they were unsuccessful again in this Game 4, they still have time to avoid the same fate in the series.
"If we keep playing like that, we know we have a really good chance to win," Klingberg said. "The goals are going to come."
The Wild have been the surprise of the league as their high-scoring winger makes a shambles of team scoring records.
