The Dallas Stars have a great chance Saturday to put Minnesota on the ropes. A win in St. Paul in the afternoon would give the Stars a 3-1 series lead in the first round of the Western Conference Playoffs as the series shifts back to Texas next week.
Games 2 and 3 provided sharp Stars performances, canceling out the first game's, well, garbage. Dallas can't revert to that initial form and expect to leave the Wild's home arena with anything other than a tied series.
But if the Stars do these four things, expect some breathing room back at American Airlines Center.
1. Keep up power play brilliance
Dallas finished the regular season with the NHL's No. 2 power play, scoring 28.6% of the time. The only team better than Edmonton, which hit at a clip above 30%. And the Stars have been even better in the postseason, going 6-for-17 with the man advantage. Wyatt Johnston's 27 power-play goals in the regular season ranked tied for the 13th-best mark in NHL history, and he's already potted two in the first round, as has Matt Duchene. Getting another one or two on Saturday would be massive.
2. Score at even-strength
Perhaps more importantly - or, at least, potentially more damaging to the Wild's chances - the Stars could certainly cash in at even strength more often. Six power play goals are a lot, but with just three even-strength goals in three games so far, Dallas isn't exactly dominating at 5-on-5. In fact, Minnesota is +5 in the series as a team and has looked more dangerous with no one in the box. Only two Stars players carry pluses in the series. Turning that around could devastate the Wild.
3. Get some bottom-six injection
Twelve different Stars players scored 30 or more points this season. And while Johnston, Duchene, Mikko Rantanen, Jason Robertson, and Roope Hintz carry a bulk of the load (when healthy), four other Stars forwards crack that top 12. But through three games, the only two forwards not in that named group who have points are Justin Hryckowian and Oscar Back. Granted, scoring isn't the primary addition the bottom six group of forwards bring, and they've played well, anyway. Adding some scoring punch, though, would be a welcome surprise.
4. Match the scrappiness
The biggest thing those bottom six have brought is the fire. Colin Blackwell's massive hit against Yakov Trenin in Game 2 set the standard. Radek Faksa. Mavrik Bourque has collected 14 hits, Hryckowian 13. Radek Faksa has six hits and five blocked shots. With more than 50 combined penalty minutes in the series, Dallas has had no problem matching Minnesota's chippiness - and Wild fans would probably argue the Stars have been the instigators - and keeping that up on the road Saturday is paramount.
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