Wild vs. Stars Game 4: Minnesota evens series on Matt Boldy's OT winner

AtlanticBruinsCanadiensLightningMaple LeafsPanthersRed WingsSabresSenatorsMetropolitanBlue JacketsCapitalsDevilsFlyersHurricanesIslandersPenguinsRangersCentralAvalancheBlackhawksBluesJetsMammothPredatorsStarsWildPacificCanucksDucksFlamesGolden KnightsKingsKrakenOilersSharksScores & ScheduleStandingsPodcastsFantasyNHL OddsNHL PicksNHL playoff predictionsBracketStanley Cup tiersNHL Draft rankingRed Light NewsletterNHL Playoffs Matt Boldy celebrates after tipping the game-winner past Jake Oettinger on Saturday. Ellen Schmidt / Getty Images Share article31ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Minnesota Wild’s special teams failed them once again, but the team’s season has been resuscitated by its rugged fourth line and overtime heroics from star forward Matt Boldy. With the Wild down in the third period — 5:20 away from a 3-1 first-round series deficit to the Dallas Stars — Marcus Foligno went over the top of goalie Jake Oettinger from the side of the net and backhanded in his first goal of the postseason to force overtime. Then, with 28.9 seconds left in OT, Matt Boldy scored to lift the Wild to a 3-2 Game 4 victory, evening the series, with Game 5 in Dallas on Tuesday. Boldy, who not long before had a goal overturned for kicking the puck in past Oettinger, went to the net alone while Tyler Myers was preoccupied, mugging Joel Eriksson Ek out of the corner. Boldy deflected a shot from captain Jared Spurgeon past Oettinger for his first career playoff OT goal. The last two goals saved all focus being heaped upon the Wild’s special teams. One home game after the Wild gave up three power-play goals and didn’t score on their last six power plays, the Wild went 0-for-4 on the power play and 0-for-2 on the penalty kill. Jason Robertson and Miro Heiskanen scored power-play goals for the Stars and Oettinger made 40 saves in the defeat. Jesper Wallstedt made 43 saves for the Wild, including 16 in the second period, and is now 2-2 in the series. Brock Faber also scored for the Wild, becoming the first defenseman in franchise history to score three goals in a playoff series. The Stars have scored eight of their 11 goals in the series on the power play. The Wild are now 7-17 at home in the playoffs since an opening-round win against the St. Louis Blues in 2015. When a team wins Game 4 to tie a best-of-seven series, they go on to win the series 49.8 percent of the time (150 of 301). When the win comes at home, a team wins 43.5 percent of the time (77 of 177). For most of this series, Marcus Foligno has been pretty quiet. Well, other than that whole “they can’t hang with us” at five-on-five quote after Game 2 and almost decapitating Thomas Harley earlier in that game. But Foligno came through in a big way Saturday, and his game-tying goal with around six minutes left might have saved the Wild’s season. Foligno, who threw his body around all game, found himself near the crease on a Wild possession and was in the right spot as Nico Sturm threw a puck at the net. Foligno knocked the puck loose from Oettinger and then reached over with his stick to swipe in the rebound in the crease. Foligno, who lost his stick in the scramble, made a huge jump into the boards and got mobbed by teammates. The Wild had been struggling offensively, with that just their fourth even-strength goal since Game 1. After Ryan Hartman was called for goalie interference leading to Robertson’s power-play goal to open the game, Minnesota drew three consecutive power plays to end the first period. Like the previous two games, the Wild failed remarkably. The first two power plays, the only shot they generated was a 49-foot muffin by Hartman at the tail end of the second power play. The third, they pressured hard, but they only recorded two shots, and Quinn Hughes didn’t pull the trigger fast enough near the final horn after Kaprizov set him up with an open net. In the second, the Wild drew a fourth in a row. This time, the right-shot Faber replaced Hughes on the No. 1 unit, and guess what, not a single shot. The Wild’s power play is 1-for-15 over the past three games, and the only goal has come from the second unit. That after they scored two power-play goals in Game 1 and finished the regular season third in the NHL. Conversely, the Stars went 2-for-2 and are now 8-for-19 in the series. At the end of a one-sided second period in which Dallas outshot Minnesota 17-4, Jamie Benn bonked himself on his own head with his own stick, Faber was called for high-sticking, and that’s all the Stars needed to take a 2-1 lead on Heiskanen’s rip. Mats Zuccarello missed his third straight game with an upper-body injury, and the question of whether he’ll be able to return at all in this series looms large for the Wild. Zuccarello finished Game 1 with three assists but was elbowed in the face by defenseman Myers, who received a minor penalty. Zuccarello talked to the media after the game and participated in the morning skate before Game 2 but wasn’t feeling right and hasn’t played since. Coach John Hynes had said he was “questionable” to return for Game 4 but was making progress, including skating on his own before Friday’s practice. Zuccarello’s absence had ripple effects not only on the Wild’s top line but also their power play. His long-time linemate Kaprizov has just three assists and no goals in the past three games. Bobby Brink took Zuccarello’s place on both the top power play and the first line. Zuccarello, 38, is in the last year of his contract and hasn’t committed to playing past this season. He’s the highest scoring Norwegian in NHL history and ranks fourth in Wild history with 271 assists and 389 points. Robertson might not have the flash of Kaprizov or skating ability of Hughes or tipping skills of Johnston or hands of Rantanen, but there’s a reason he’s been the most effective forward in this series. He knows where the puck is going, and he knows what to do with it once it gets there. Robertson, as he so often does, particularly on the power play, was in perfect position to flip a Matt Duchene rebound past Wallstedt at 5:35 of the first period to give the Stars a 1-0 lead. The 26-year-old power forward now has scored in seven straight postseason games, dating back to the final three games of last year’s Western Conference final. He has eight goals in those seven games, and he became the first player in Dallas Stars history to score in the first four games of a postseason (the second in franchise history, as Steve Payne did it for the Minnesota North Stars in 1981). Robertson almost got another, too, in a significant first-period sequence. He looked off Mavrik Bourque on a two-on-one, but his shot was gloved down by Wallstedt. Thirty seconds later, Faber’s shot from the point ticked off Heiskanen’s glove and past Oettinger, tying up the game at 1-1. It’s amazing to think the Wild’s most agonizing pre-playoffs decision — which didn’t come until two days before Game 1 — was whether to start the rookie Wallstedt or Filip Gustavsson in net. Wallstedt has been terrific for Minnesota, and Saturday was another example of how he’s helped keep their season alive. He exuded calmness when they were under siege, especially when the Stars outshot them 17-4 in the second period. Of all the things Minnesota has had to worry about this series, from the struggling power play and penalty kill to inconsistent stars, Wallstedt has been their backbone. A penchant for Wallstedt has been timely saves. Case in point was Saturday’s first period, when the Wild were trailing 1-0. Robertson was coming in with speed off the rush, but Wallstedt robbed him with a glove save. Not too long after, Faber scored the tying goal. If it were 2-0, especially that early, it could have changed how the rest of the game went. Then, at the end of regulation, Marcus Johansson had a turnover, forcing Wallstedt to make a game-saving stop on Heiskanen with four seconds left. The Stars spent the first 100 seconds of the second period hemmed into their own end, desperately flailing to get the puck into the neutral zone. Then they absolutely took over. For the next 5 minutes, 29 seconds, Dallas set up shop in the Wild zone and never left, cycling through four line changes without ceding the puck. At one point in that stretch, Minnesota’s vaunted defensive duo of Faber and Hughes grinded through a 3 minute, 13 second shift. Dallas didn’t score, and frankly, didn’t threaten too often, swinging the puck around the perimeter for much of that time. After getting dominated by the Wild in the first period, the Stars held a 12-2 edge in scoring chances and a 6-1 edge in high-danger scoring chances in the second at five-on-five, per Natural Stat Trick. It kept the game tied long enough for the power play to do its thing, with Heiskanen beating Wallstedt from the left point with 35 seconds left in the period, giving Dallas the 2-1 lead entering the third. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms