NHL Playoffs, Minnesota Wild vs. Dallas Stars, 5-3: Full highlights, final score and more

Minnesota Wild defeated the Dallas Stars on Monday night in Game 3 of their series

Prior to Game 3, Minnesota had a record of winning just five comeback games, the smallest percentage in the entire league.

Period 1 was, in all ways, a the Patrick Sharp Show. Just 26 seconds into regulation, he beat the Wild defense towards the goal and put a puck in the net. If that wasn’t impressive enough, he repeated the action less than four minutes later, at 15:10, giving him his 45th career playoff goal and eighth career two-goal game in a postseason.

The total no-show of the Wild defense made it clear that the underdog team needed to be more aggressive immediately if they wanted to stretch their series past four games.

With 50 seconds left in the first period, Chris Porter finally got the Wild in the game with a goal assisted by Erik Haula and Jonas Brodin. As the period ended, the differential between the two teams was quite extreme — Minnesota had 10 shots on goal in the first period compared to Dallas’s six, four of which were from Sharp, and two of his were Dallas’s goals. Either Minnesota was successfully preventing Dallas’ renowned offense from actually getting near the goal, or the Stars were burning out.

The action intensified as the game went on, with multiple scrums breaking up plays. The Wild evened the score 6:04 into the period, thanks to Erik Haula. But the remaining majority of the period was locked to a tie, with Dallas continually failing to get possession of the puck. The Stars appeared to have difficulty dealing with the Wild’s speed.

With 46.3 seconds remaining in the second period, Jason Pominville scored on a rebound off the rush, putting the Wild at 3-2. This was the first time Minnesota had a lead in the series.

Dallas made a final push in the third period, but their efforts were futile. Mikko Koivu scored a fourth goal for Minnesota on a power play 6:26 into the period. Colton Sceviour added another for Dallas at 13:45, tightening the score at just a one-goal deficit, but Pominville responded with yet another goal for Minnesota with 1:14 left. Pominville intercepted a pass from John Klingberg and slid the puck down the ice into Dallas’s empty goal.

With their 5-3 win, the Wild snapped their seven-game losing streak, and introduced a new dynamic to the Stars vs. Wild series.

Three Stars

LW Erik Haula (WILD)
Haula earned a goal and an assist in Game 3.

RW Jason Pominville (WILD)
Pominville added a new dimension to the series by contributing two goals to Minnesota’s total of five in Game 3. He also added an assist.

LW Patrick Sharp (STARS)
Though the Stars failed to impress—and failed to perform—in Game 3, Sharp definitely played like a man who wanted the win. His two goals in less than five minutes of play were astounding, even if he succeeded because of the Wild’s unobservant and absent defense.

Highlights

Period 1 was essentially all Patrick Sharp. Dallas managed to get only four shots on goal, but two of those were the left wing’s goals.

If you look again at those goals, you’ll notice it’s not Sharp’s skill that earned the goals, but the Wild’s absence. Where was the defense?

But Minnesota would quickly learn how to play against the Stars, and Dallas’ 2-1 lead wouldn’t last long. Wild clinched a lead for the first time in seven straight postseason games when Jason Pominville scored on a rebound of the rush with 46.3 seconds left in the second period:

Next Game

The Wild will attempt to even the series against the Stars on Wednesday, April 20 at 9:30 pm ET. The game will be aired on NBC Sports Network.

For more coverage of the NHL Playoffs, make sure to check out our NHL hub page.