Minnesota Wild Take Game 5 in Dallas, Head Home With 3–2 Series Lead

Dallas Stars fans weren’t smiling as they left the American Airlines Center on Victory Avenue Tuesday evening—their team lost 4–2 against the Minnesota Wild.

After scoring back-to-back wins in Games 2 and 3, and being up two games to one in Round 1 of the NHL postseason, the Stars lost Games 4 and 5, and now have their backs against the wall leading into Thursday’s Game 6 at St. Paul, Minnesota’s Grand Casino Arena.

After Tuesday’s game in Dallas, the Wild flew home leading the best-of-seven series 3–2. A win on Thursday would allow Minnesota to advance to Round 2 opposite the Colorado Avalanche, which swept the Los Angeles Kings in their opening round series.

Thursday’s Wild-Stars Game 6 begins at 7:30 p.m. ET. If Game 7 is needed to close out the series, the Wild would travel to Dallas on Saturday.

The Wild got the scoring started on Tuesday in the first period, as Mats Zuccarello put the puck past Dallas goalie Jake Oettinger at 3:51. Oettinger played for Team USA in 2025’s Four Nation Faceoff. Zuccarello missed the previous three games of the series due to an upper-body injury. Later in the period, Stars’ defenseman Miro Heiskanen tied the game at 8:58.

At 19:28 in the second period, Minnesota took a 2–1 lead with a goal by forward Matthew Boldy.

The Wild’s Michael McCarron scored at 7:47 in the third period to increase his team’s lead to 3–1. The Stars struck next, with a goal by Jason Robertson at 16:39. The score remained 3–2 until 18:00 into the third period when Minnesota’s Kirill Kaprizov scored on a backhand goal. Kaprizov had three points on the night; a goal and two assists.

“It’s not like we’re not trying,” Dallas captain Jamie Benn said on Tuesday to NHL.com. “The series is so far from over. We’ll see what we can do on the road here. Put more pucks on net. Keep shooting the puck. You get a chance, rip it. Usually, when you do that, good things happen, even if it doesn’t go in. You’ll get a rebound, start some chaos, and we’ll try to do that a little bit more in Game 6.”

Wild rookie netminder Jesper Wallstedt stopped 20 shots on goal. Along with a top performance by their goalie, Minnesota’s offense was ignited by having Zuccarello back in its lineup. In Game 1 of the series, Zuccarello registered three assists.

“He’s a key piece to this puzzle,” Minnesota defenseman Brock Faber told NHL.com. “He brings skill. He brings energy. He obviously brings another element on the power play, so having him back is so awesome as a player, as a leader. He did what he does best tonight.”

Dallas, which earned the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference this past season, has been eliminated in the third round of the postseason the past three years. Peter DeBoer, after three seasons on the job, was relieved as coach of the Stars last spring. Glen Gulutzan, who succeeded DeBoer last summer, previously coached Dallas for two seasons (2011–2013).

Being in a position to close out the series at home on Thursday has Wild players energized.

“We got to just look to control our emotions in Game 6 and in front of our home crowd, a place where we had a good feeling leaving last time,” said forward Marcus Foligno, as reported by The Associated Press on Thursday.

During the regular season, in four games between Minnesota and Dallas, the Stars went 2–1–1 against the Wild.

In the 2023 playoffs, the Wild and Stars met in the first round. The Stars won in six games.

Minnesota’s coach John Hynes was pleased with his team’s output on Tuesday, and his thoughts were shared with The Hockey News on Wednesday.

“I just think that when we play a tight connected game, I think we’re usually at our best and I thought we were responsible and showing attention to detail,” Hynes said. “Jesper had a key save when we needed him. Overall I thought it was another game where we can continue to build and get better.”