Wild Make a Statement with Win in Game 3

The Minnesota Wild returned home and treated Wild fans with a great 5-1 win over the Dallas Stars to take a 2-1 series lead!

Final: Dallas Stars 1 Minnesota Wild 5

Scoring summary:
1st period:
MIN Mats Zuccarello-1 (Assisted by Hartman, Klingberg) 16:45
2nd period:
MIN Marcus Johansson-2 (Assisted by Boldy) 2:14
DAL Luke Glendening-1 (Assisted by Kiviranta, Faksa) 2:25
MIN Marcus Foligno-1 PP (Assisted by Nyquist, Spurgeon) 11:24
3rd period:
MIN Mats Zuccarello-2 (Assisted by Hartman, Klingberg) 14:07
MIN Ryan Hartman-2 ENG (Assisted by Middleton) 18:10

Game summary:
Minnesota came into this game needing some good consecutive minutes. They sure got them in the 1st period! The Wild were aggressive from the start and seemed to put Dallas on their heels. This resulted finally in a goal with just a few minutes remaining in the 1st period. A scramble play in front of the Dallas net left it wide open for Zuccarello to tap the puck in. 
In the 2nd period, things started to get interesting. Only 2 minutes in, Marcus Johansson scored off a decent shot from mid range. However, only 10 seconds later Dallas scored on a broken play by the net. The Wild PA announcer hadn't even finished his announcement of the Wild goal yet. Then, midway through the period with the Wild on a power play, Foligno redirects a shot from Gustav Nyquist for the power play goal. It was reviewed for high sticking, but deemed to be level with the crossbar so it was a good goal. 
In the 3rd period the Wild carried what seemed to be a crushing 3-1 lead. Minnesota continued to put the pressure on and managed to finally get another puck across the line around 5 mins to go from Mats Zuccarello. Not long after this, Dallas pulls their goalie and attempts to put the pressure on Minnesota in a 6 on 5. This doesn't work to their advantage though and Ryan Hartman sends a screamer into the net from almost the Minnesota goal line. This would seal it for Minnesota!

This win gives Minnesota the 2-1 series lead, and a big opportunity for the Wild on Sunday to take advantage and add to their series lead. This is a historic win for Minnesota, its their 2nd ever early series lead and their first since their 2015 series win over St. Louis in 6 games.

Up Next
Minnesota will host Dallas again in Game 4 on Sunday at 5:30 PM CT.

Go Wild!!