First Shift 🏒
As much as you can complain about the Stars and Minnesota Wild facing off in the first round as the second- and third-best teams in the West, it also means players and fans are in for a heck of a first-round matchup starting Saturday at American Airlines Center.
“It’s exciting,” said Dallas goalie Jake Oettinger. “If you want to win it all, you’ve got to beat great teams along the way. They’re obviously one of the best teams in the league, and I think it’s going to be a heck of a series.”
Dallas finished the regular season at 50-20-12 (112 points). Minnesota was 46-24-12. The Stars were second in GAA at 2.71. The Wild was fourth at 2.87. The Stars power play ranked second at 28.6 percent. The Wild was third at 25.2 percent.
“The Central was tough all year, so you kind of expect this,” said Stars forward Robertson. “It’s going to be a great series.”
Robertson finished with 45 goals, same with teammate Wyatt Johnston. Minnesota forward Kirill Kaprizov also had 45, while teammate Matt Boldy had 42. There are a lot of great elements to this best-of-seven showdown.
“They’ve got some of the best players in the league, some of the most skilled guys in the league,” Oettinger said. “They’re big and heavy at the same time, so they can play any game you want to play. It’s going to take everyone, PK, power play, goaltending, everything is going to have to be great to beat these guys.”
Glen Gulutzan was named new coach of the Stars last summer, and he was familiar with the team because, as an assistant coach, he helped eliminate Dallas from the playoffs for two years in a row. As a result, Gulutzan implemented a catchphrase of “one degree more,” which asked players to be one degree more physical, one degree more intense, one degree more involved. It has paid off, and Dallas has been a more physical team. In key games against Edmonton, Colorado and Minnesota, the Stars jumped right into the physicality and never backed down.
“That’s why it needed to be in the fabric of our jersey while we were playing, so that you’re not reactionary to these types of games,” Gulutzan said. “It has to become a part of what you do so when you do get into these situations, you’re not making mistakes trying to be overly physical. I think we’ve done a good job of that.”
The Wild are expected to use a strategy that involves heavy physical play and a hard forecheck to force the Stars into mistakes. In its last meeting with Dallas, Minnesota scored three power play goals, but the Stars won the game 5-4 on the strength of depth scoring and key goals from Robertson and Mikko Rantanen.
“We learned some lessons last time we played them,” Wild forward Marcus Foligno said. “We know that they’re a really, really good team, and so are we. They have some lethal weapons. We’re just more educated, more experienced going into this series than we were before. We always like our chances. We’re positive.”
Which makes this a really great series. Whoever loses will be going home after one round, and neither wants that. So the expectations are every second will be a battle.
“Everyone is amped up and excited to get out there. Physicality ramps up, speed ramps up, it’s just the nature of the game,” Stars captain Benn said. “There’s no waiting around. We’re a confident group and going up against a great team, so it should be a good one.”
