Stars vs. Wild 2016 final score: Dallas survives late Minnesota surge, advance to Round 2
The Stars weathered a Wild storm in the final 20 minutes to take Game 6 by a score of 5-4.
Dallas will face the winner of Chicago and St. Louis in the next round.
The Stars jumped out to an early 3-0 lead to quiet the home Minnesota crowd. John Klingberg got the ball rolling for Dallas with his first postseason goal with a one-timed bomb six minutes in. The Wild took two key penalties that set the home team on a 5-on-3 penalty kill. Good movement from the Stars gave Klingberg the open alley to fire one past Devan Dubnyk.
Jason Spezza doubled up the Stars lead 2-0 with his fourth goal of the series three minutes later. The rebound from Patrick Eaves' shot from the high slot dribbled over to Spezza, who collected the puck on the backhand before firing it home.
A late first period 2-on-1 burned the Wild within the final moments of the opening 20 minutes. Patrick Sharp opted to shoot instead of pass on the odd man break and threaded the needle on a corner shot that put the Stars up 3-0 heading into the first intermission.
Jamie Benn effectively put the game away for the Stars with his third point of the afternoon on a goal with 24 seconds left in the second period. A snipe from in tight caught Dubnyk top right corner as the Wild broke down defensively and allowed Benn time and space to set that goal up from the left circle.
However, a third period surge had the Wild knocking on the Stars' door. Jared Spurgeon and Jonas Brodin each got their firsts of the series just 16 seconds apart. A power play goal got things started 3:48 into the final frame as Spurgeon got his first of the afternoon, jamming home the loose puck in a scrum.
Brodin then made a lazy Dallas defense pay that cut the Stars’ lead in half 4-2. The Stars failed to pick up the trailer as Brodin put the puck in on an empty net.
Spurgeon struck again to make it 4-3 four minutes after on another power play. Another bad penalty stung the Stars as they were helpless to the suddenly alive Wild special teams.
The Stars finally created breathing room after a funky bounce off a face off became Dubnyk’s worst nightmare. The goaltender pushed the puck into his own net to help the Stars regain the two-goal lead.
Another look at Dubnyk putting it in his own net pic.twitter.com/98JnCMihqM
— Pete Blackburn (@PeteBlackburn) April 24, 2016
But it wasn't over. Jason Pominville had one last gasp for the Wild, making it a one-goal game once again with less than five minutes left.
With 30 seconds left, the Wild believed they had scored but the puck had not fully crossed the goal line.
When all was said and done, the Wild scored four times on 15 shots in the third period.
