Kirill Kaprizov had a goal and two assists and the Minnesota Wild beat the Stars 4-2 in Game 5 of their Western Conference First Round series Tuesday night in Dallas.
The No. 3 seeded Wild lead the best-of-seven series 3-2 with Game 6 set for Thursday night in Minnesota. The series winner advances to meet the No. 1 seeded Colorado Avalanche.
Trailing 3-1, No. 2 seed Dallas pulled goalie Jake Oettinger during 4-on-4 play late in the third period and scored with the man advantage as Jason Robertson’s centering pass deflected in off Minnesota’s Jarred Spurgeon in front at 16:39 to make it 3-2.
Kaprizov scored into an empty net at 18:00 for the 4-2 final.
Matt Boldy had a goal and an assist, and Mats Zuccarello and Michael McCarron also scored for the Wild. Jesper Wallstedt made 20 saves.
Robertson and Miro Heiskanen each had a goal and an assist for the Stars, and Oettinger made 24 saves.
Zuccarello, who had missed the past three games with an upper-body injury sustained in Game 1, gave the Wild a 1-0 lead at 3:51 of the first period.
Kaprizov collected his own rebound and passed across the crease to Zuccarello, who tucked it in at the right post.
Heiskanen tied it with a 50-foot power-play snipe at 8:58. Robertson received a pass in the left circle from Matt Duchene and passed to Heiskanen, who scored on a one-timer from the center point.
Matt Boldy appeared to give the Wild a 2-1 lead with 12.9 seconds left in the first period, but the Stars challenged for goaltender interference, and it was ruled that Boldy pushed Oettinger’s pad with his stick.
Boldy did give the Wild a 2-1 lead with a power-play goal at 19:28 of the second period. Boldy took a return pass along the boards from Quinn Hughes, skated toward the slot and banged a wrist shot in off the far slot from above the right circle.
McCarron made it 3-1 at 7:27 of the third period when he chased down a loose puck, went to the net and chipped the puck past Oettinger.
–Field Level Media
