Dallas Stars feeling positive going into Game 6 in Minnesota
The Dallas Stars were 3 minutes, 9 seconds away Friday night from advancing out of the first round of the playoffs for the first time since 2008.
But Minnesota Wild captain Mikko Koivu made his presence felt in the series with a game-tying goal with 3:09 left in regulation, and then re-directed the game-winning shot in overtime.
That extended the best-of-seven series to a Game 6 at 2 p.m. Sunday (KXAS/Channel 5) in Minnesota. The Stars, however, still feel positive about their chances of closing it out. After all, they had 85 total shots in regulation in Game 5, 40 more than the Wild. The shots-on-goal differential was 41-24, Stars.
For me, I liked the way we played. I like the way the group competed.
Stars coach Lindy Ruff
on Friday night’s 5-4 loss to Minnesota in overtime“I loved the way our team competed,” coach Lindy Ruff said afterward. “We had 90-plus attempts and skated as good as we skated.
“We’ve got to clean up some of our plays we made with the puck, but we had the puck most of the night. For me, I liked the way we played. I like the way the group competed. Not once was there any quit in them, and they kept coming back and we got the lead.”
The Stars could have withered away early in Game 5, as the Wild grabbed an early 2-0 lead 5 1/2 minutes into it. As Ruff said, they battled back and took the lead in the third period on a pair of goals 28 seconds apart by Jason Spezza and Alex Goligoski.
It wasn’t meant to be in the end, though, and the Stars are moving on to Game 6. They already know forward Tyler Seguin (lower body) won’t play, but the bigger question is who will start in goal.
They’ve both won us games in the playoffs.
Lindy Ruff
saying the Stars would evaluate whether to start Kari Lehtonen or Antti Niemi in goal on Sunday for Game 6Kari Lehtonen started the series’ first three games, going 2-1, and Antti Niemi has started the past two, going 1-1.
Ruff said the team would “evaluate” the situation, adding: “They’ve both won us games in the playoffs.”
That’s all that matters in the locker room, of course.
“It’s a tough building to play in,” Goligoski said of Game 6, “and we have just got to be real solid and not force things. We have to just let the game play out with us driving the pace and go from there.”
Drew Davison: 817-390-7760, @drewdavison
Minnesota | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | — | 5 |
Dallas | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | — | 4 |
First Period—1, Min, Granlund 1 (Jones), 3:32. 2, Min, Schroeder 1 (Suter, Spurgeon), 5:16. 3, Dal, Oduya 1 (Faksa, Klingberg), 17:18. Penalties—Dumba, Min (roughing), 7:59; Roussel, Dal (roughing), 7:59; Spurgeon, Min (tripping), 8:13.
Second Period—None. Penalties—Spurgeon, Min (tripping), 1:32.
Third Period—4, Dal, Ja.Benn 3 (Klingberg), 1:00. 5, Min, Niederreiter 1 (Spurgeon, Pominville), 1:50. 6, Dal, Spezza 3 (Janmark, Eaves), 8:28. 7, Dal, Goligoski 1 (Eakin), 8:56. 8, Min, Koivu 2 (Granlund, Pominville), 16:51. Penalties—None.
First Overtime—9, Min, Koivu 3 (Suter, Prosser), 4:55. Penalties—None.
Shots on Goal—Minnesota 7-10-5-2—24. Dallas 12-11-15-3—41. Power plays—Min 0 of 0; Dal 0 of 2.
Goalies—Min, Dubnyk 2-3-0 (41 shots-37 saves). Dallas, Niemi 1-1-0 (24-19). A—18,889 (18,532). T—3:02.
Stars at Wild
2 p.m. Sunday, NBC (KXAS/Channel 5)
This story was originally published April 23, 2016 at 6:00 PM with the headline "Dallas Stars feeling positive going into Game 6 in Minnesota."