The Dallas Stars will play the Minnesota Wild in the Western Conference First Round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The Stars (50-20-12) finished second in the Central Division, eight points ahead of the Wild (46-24-12) to earn home-ice advantage.
Jason Robertson led the Stars with 96 points (45 goals, 51 assists) in 82 games. Wyatt Johnston was next with 86 points (45 goals, 41 assists) in 82 games and led the NHL with 27 power-play goals. Mikko Rantanen had 77 points (22 goals, 55 assists) in 64 games.
Rantanen missed 15 games with a lower-body injury he sustained while playing for Team Finland at the 2026 Winter Olympics before returning on March 28, when he had a goal and an assist in a 6-3 win at the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Dallas goalie Jake Oettinger, who won gold with Team USA at the Olympics, went 35-12-6 with a 2.59 goals-against average, .899 save percentage and four shutouts in 54 games. Backup Casey DeSmith was 15-8-6 with a 2.43 GAA, .907 save percentage and one shutout in 30 games (28 starts).
The Wild are led offensively by forwards Kirill Kaprizov (89 points; 45 goals, 44 assists in 78 games) and Matt Boldy, who had an NHL career-high 85 points (42 goals, 43 assists) in 76 games. Forwards Vladimir Tarasenko and Ryan Hartman each scored 23 goals.
Goalie Filip Gustavsson was 28-15-6 with a 2.69 GAA, .904 save percentage and four shutouts in 50 games (49 starts) for the Wild. Rookie Jesper Wallstedt was 18-9-6 with a 2.61 GAA, .916 save percentage and four shutouts in 35 games (33starts).
The Stars went 2-1-1 against the Wild this season.
Boldy (two goals, four assists) led the Wild in scoring against the Stars with six points. Kaprizov had three goals and two assists.
Gustavsson started all four games for the Wild, going 2-2-0 with a 2.76 GAA and .879 save percentage. He allowed five goals on 20 shots in the most recent game, a 5-4 Dallas win on April 9.
Johnston (two goals, three assists) and defenseman Esa Lindell (one goal, four assists) were tied for the Dallas lead against Minnesota with five points each. Robertson has two goals and one assist, and defenseman Miro Heiskanen had one goal and three assists.
Oettinger started all four games against the Wild, going 2-1-1 with a 2.73 GAA and .915 save percentage.
This will be the third playoff series between the teams. The Stars won in six games in both the 2016 first round and the 2023 first round.
“We learned some lessons last time we played them,” Wild forward Marcus Foligno said. “We know that they’re a really good team, and so are we. But they have some lethal weapons, and we’re just more educated, more experienced going into this series than we were before.”
