Four games into their NHL first-round playoff series, the Wild and Dallas have two wins each, with the latest result being the Stars' response Sunday night in a 3-2 victory at Xcel Energy Center. Instead of Minnesota taking a 3-1 series lead for the first time in franchise history, the series has boiled down to a best-of-three, with Game 5 Tuesday night in Dallas.
Here are five takeaways from Sunday's game:
1. Foligno was in the spotlight again
Forward Marcus Foligno's all-around play stood out for the Wild in their 5-1 rout of the Stars in Game 3 on Friday as he scored a goal, delivered four hits and did the gritty work needed for his team to take a series lead.
In Game 4 on Sunday, the fan favorite was the center of attention again, but not in the way he would have liked.
Foligno was called for two penalties Sunday — infractions he vehemently protested and coach Dean Evason passive-aggressively questioned, too — and the Stars scored power-play goals on both of them. The first, a deflection off Tyler Seguin's left skate, gave Dallas a 1-0 lead in the second period. The second, with 3:31 left in the third, made it 3-1 and proved to be the winner.
To Foligno, neither penalty should have been called.
The first happened when he finished a hard hit on Stars defenseman Jani Hakanpää and was called for interference. The second came when Foligno was called for tripping as he delivered a shoulder-to-chest hit on Mason Marchment, whose stick cut Foligno's nose.
"It's a joke," Foligno said, peppering his comments with an expletive. "It doesn't make any sense. I go to hit a guy. He touches the puck. It's not interference. I get high-sticked in the face. It's not a tripping call when you hit a guy clean-on."