Puck bounces Stars’ way for 2-0 lead over Wild

Minnesota Wild goalie Devan Dubnyk could only raise his arms in disbelief. He didn’t know how the Dallas Stars were awarded a goal after the puck bounced off a couple skates behind the net, somehow ricocheted off the back of his helmet and into the net early in the second period.

As the old hockey saying goes, some nights the puck just doesn’t bounce your way. It did for the Stars, though, and it may be a sign that good fortune is with the top-seeded Western Conference team for what they hope is a deep playoff run.

That goal might become a series-defining moment. The Stars didn’t surrender the lead from that point on, holding on for a 2-1 victory in Game 2 on Saturday night at American Airlines Center.

Dallas took advantage of home ice to start the series and has a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series with Game 3 scheduled for Monday night in Minnesota.

Captain Jamie Benn sealed the victory with a breakaway goal midway through the third period for a 2-0 lead. He got free for a one-on-one showdown with Dubnyk and buried the puck in the net with 9:37 left in the game.

The Wild answered with a power-play goal by Marco Scandella with 7:18 left in the game, the first goal of the series given up by Kari Lehtonen. But that’s as close as the Wild came with Lehtonen and the defense milking the clock down the stretch.

And to think the news of the day going into the game had been the return of standout forward Tyler Seguin from an Achilles tendon injury.

But the biggest story of the night centered on one of the most bizarre goals imaginable in a game that had started off eerily similar to the series opener.

Much like Game 1, the Stars had plenty of shots on goal in the first period, out-shooting the Wild 14-7. But, once again, they had nothing to show for it.

That changed early in the second period with a goal scored with skates, not sticks. The Wild were trying to clear it out from behind their own net, but they were met by a couple Stars.

The puck glanced off forward Ales Hemsky’s skate and headed back behind the net. The wobbly puck then bounced off Antoine Roussel’s skate and took an upward path toward the goal.

Somehow, it cleared the crossbar and hit the back of Dubnyk’s helmet. Dubnyk skated backwards into the goal and lifted it off its moorings. Simultaneously, the puck slid down his back and crossed the goal-line.

Upon a lengthy review, the officials determined the puck had cleared the goal-line before the actual goal had moved, which gave the Stars the goal and lead.

The home crowd went crazy. All Dubnyk and the Wild could do was look on with disbelief.

That seemed to take some life out of the Wild and the Stars appeared to put the game out of reach with Benn’s goal. But the Wild made it interesting late with the power play goal and had a couple chances in the final seconds.

The puck simply bounced the Stars’ way.

This story was originally published April 16, 2016 at 10:30 PM with the headline "Puck bounces Stars’ way for 2-0 lead over Wild."