Wild Split Games 1 and 2 in Dallas

So, Game 1 was a defensive grind that went until 1 AM, and Game 2 there was no defense. 

Game 1: Minnesota Wild 3 Dallas Stars 2 (2OT)
Game 2: Minnesota Wild 3 Dallas Stars 7

Game Summaries:
In Game 1, the Wild were on their game from the very beginning of the night. Right away, they were hitting their marks and putting Dallas on their heels. This was working and Minnesota was getting valuable chances, it was just a matter of time before a goal got through Otteninger. That goal did happen, with about 5 mins to go in the 1st period, Jared Spurgeon fires off a shot and it deflects off Kirill Kaprizov's stick and into the net for the Wild's first goal of the series and first lead. This carried into the first intermission. In the 2nd period, things got a little wonky. The Wild committed a penalty and the Stars started their power play with a goal 6 seconds in to tie the game. Then no more then a minute later, the Wild committed another penalty. This time the Stars scored only 3 seconds into the power play. Suddenly its 2-1 Stars. This would continue through into the 3rd period, but not before a standard hit put on Pavelski by Minnesota's Matt Dumba causes a fight. After this, the Wild seemed to hit a different gear. In the 3rd period, the Wild would wind up scoring around halfway through. But neither team could break the tie despite power plays for both teams through regulation. Then in the 1st overtime, neither team was able to score. But both teams were able to get scoring chances, and the Stars claimed that lead. In the 2nd overtime, the Wild continued to play good defense, but everyone was getting tired. Finally after a mistake around the Dallas net, the Wild's Ryan Hartman scores to give the Wild the Game 1 win! This was also the longest game in Minnesota Wild history.
In Game 2, things got a lot uglier. Dallas scored first on a power play in the 1st period. Minnesota would score 4 minutes later to tie it. Unfortunetly for the Wild, the Stars would score on yet another power play before the end of the 1st period. In the 2nd period, it got very ugly. Dallas would score another goal on a power play. Then weirdly enough, Minnesota scored 2 goals 38 seconds apart from each other to cut the deficit to one goal. After that though, Dallas would score 2 goals themselves only 48 seconds apart. In the 3rd period, the Stars would score another goal to bring us the final score of 7-3. However, in the waning several minutes in the 3rd period, the teams got very chippy. 10 total players were handed misconduct penalties. 

Minnesota played very well in Game 1, and then played terrible defense in Game 2. Marc-Andre Fleury started game 2 and did not look great, but his defense didn't help him much either. So, the Wild will hope to regroup and reload on defense in their return to St. Paul for Games 3 and 4. 

Up Next
The series will now shift back to St. Paul and the Xcel Energy Center when the Wild host the Stars for Game 3 on Friday at 8:30 PM CT. On Sunday, Minnesota will host Game 4 at 5:30 PM CT.

​Go Wild!!