NHL Playoffs: Dallas Stars vs Minnesota Wild, 3-2 Game 4: Full highlights

The Dallas Stars are one win away from eliminating the Minnesota Wild in their first round NHL Playoff series.

The Dallas Stars lead their series 3-1 against the Minnesota Wild after winning Game 4 by the score of 3-2.

This is the biggest game of the series for both teams. For the Stars, it’s push-back time. Hands down, the Stars played their worst game in about five weeks in Game 3–they moved slowly, they got confused during line changes, they failed to defend their goal. In short, they were dead on the ice and could barely function. In a series that has just become very competitive, you can’t afford such slack.

The most discussed issue of the game was not that Tyler Seguin will not play for a second-straight game, but the Dallas goaltender change from Kari Lehtonen to Antii Niemi. As the primary goalie of the team, Lehtonen carried the Stars through the first 3 games of the playoffs.

In his last nine games, he boasts a 7-2-0 record with a 1.79 goals-against average and .932 save percentage over the last month. Though he let in four goals last game (the fifth was an empty net goal), the majority of the heat should fall on his teammates for failing to protect the house throughout the entire game.

Niemi, meanwhile, has not appeared in a playoff game since 2014, when he faced the LA Kings while playing for the San Jose Sharks.  He currently holds a 2.67 GAA and .905 save percentage.

The Wild had the edge in their offensive zone draws in Game 4. They also put terrific pressure on Dallas’s defense throughout the night, despite the tremendous effort of Stephen Johns, John Klingberg and Jason Demers.

Three Stars

C Charlie Coyle
In his best and most assertive game of 2015-16, Coyle scored one goal on four shots on goal.

C Jason Spezza (STARS)
After a quiet and rather lame Game 3, Spezza returned with a bang in Game 4, scoring a goal for the Stars and adding an assist.

D Stephen Johns (STARS)
The Dallas defense turned up the energy in period two, with Johns leading the pack. There wasn’t a single significant defensive event in which his name wasn’t mentioned. The young defenseman traded from the Blackhawks in the Patrick Sharp trade has been a huge contributor to the Stars due to his size, aggression, and skill that has unquestionably been a factor in Dallas’ success.

Highlights

Period two, much like previous Stars vs Wild games, was the most heated and competitive of periods in the game. For the first time in the series, Minnesota had the first goal in the game, coming in 5:01 into the second period. Jason Pominville earned the goal, with assists by Nino Niederreiter and Erik Haula. This is now his third goal of the postseason.

As Minnesota fans cheered, Dallas fans cried.

Ales Hemsky then evened the score on a power play about four minutes later with his first playoff goal since June 14, 2006 (so almost 10 years), only to be pushed out of the lead with a Wild goal 35 seconds later courtesy of Charlie Coyle. In his most effective game of the year, the forward stole the puck at the Wild blue line and went 2-and-1 with Zucker before finally sticking it behind Niemi with so much coordination and focus it was actually comical:

With 1:09 to go, Dallas finally got the lead thanks to Jason Spezza.

The third period lacked action until the final two minutes of regulation. Devan Dubnyk left Minnesota’s goal with 2:10 to go in the period, then Antoine Roussel received a four-minute minor penalty for high-sticking, giving the Wild a six-on-four advantage on the power play.

Yet, the advantage was not enough: time ran out on the Wild, letting the Stars win again, 3-2.

Next Game

The series returns to Dallas as the Stars try to win it all in Game 5 on Friday, April 22 at 9:30 PM ET. You can watch on NBC Sports Network and online with  NBC Sports Live Extra

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