Stars defeat Wild in Game 6, win Western 1st-Round series

ST. PAUL, Minn. --Max Domi and Mason Marchment each had a goal and an assist, and the Dallas Stars eliminated the Minnesota Wild with a 4-1 victory in Game 6 of the Western Conference First Round at Xcel Energy Center on Friday.

Dallas will face the winner of the best-of-7 series between the Colorado Avalanche and Seattle Kraken. Game 7 will be played in Denver on Sunday
"It was a really tough series and credit to Minnesota coach Dean Evason] and the Wild," Stars coach Peter DeBoer said. "I mean, that's a really good team. …It was a [heck] of a test for us. I think [Dallas forward Joe Pavelski] going down early in that series rattled us a little bit, but I think I said yesterday or the day before that I felt we had kind of moved past that and were starting to really play well.
"Kind of Game 5, Game 6, I thought we were getting better as the series went on. So, we worked through some stuff against a really tough opponent and proud of our group."
[RELATED: [Complete Stars vs. Wild series coverage]
Roope Hintz and Wyatt Johnston scored for the Stars, the No. 2 seed from the Central Division. Jake Oettinger made 23 saves and had his shutout streak end at 114:13. He had not allowed a goal since 18:40 of the third period of Game 4 in Minnesota on April 23.
"I'm just trying to enjoy it and soak it all in," Oettinger said. "Every opportunity I get, this is just a special one. When we got lined up with the Wild it was like, 'Of course it works out that way.' I just wanted to play my best and have fun and not let outside distractions or all the extra stuff that went on distract me. Our guys played their hearts out for me and I'm so happy for this group right now."

Frederick Gaudreau scored for the Wild, the No. 3 seed in the Central, who have not advanced past the first round since 2015. Filip Gustavsson allowed three goals on 26 shots, and Marc-Andre Fleury stopped all six shots he faced after entering in relief to begin the third.
"Loved our start, loved our energy," Evason said. "We couldn't score again, and had an unbelievable chance. It just misses the pad and goes by the post. They come down and the first shot goes in the net. Our group does this [indicating a sag]. We come out flat in the second, and they push. But our group never quit.
"Obviously, we got a chance at the end. Pulled the goalie and maybe a penalty on [Minnesota forward Kirill Kaprizov] -- an elbow, and it would have been nice [to get a power play], but it's a tough call to see. We didn't quit. We played hard. Their goalie was the best goalie in the series -- the best player, period, in the series. We didn't score, and we lose in six."
Ryan Hartman nearly put the Wild on the board first, but missed a rebound at the goalmouth which resulted in a Stars rush the other way.
"This city deserves better than what we gave them," Hartman said. "The fans, they've shown up for us all year and we failed them. And it feels [bad]. There's opportunities throughout this series where we could have not necessarily put the nail in the coffin, but we could have separated ourselves a little bit more, and we failed to capitalize on opportunities throughout the series.
"Game 4, Game 5, you can go to multiple games. Series aren't won in those games, but we could have done a lot better putting the puck in the net."
Hintz gave Dallas a 1-0 lead at 6:22 of the first period. Hintz beat John Klingberg for the shot coming through the right face-off circle on an assist from Tyler Seguin following Jason Robertson's outlet pass. Hintz had 12 points (five goals and seven assists) in the series.
"Zing," Seguin said. "That's Roope. Zing.
"Playing with him, I'm kind of getting used to him honestly the last few games, remembering what [Pavelski] and [Robertson] do. Sometimes they go up and kind of come back to the puck, so you know he's gaining speed. Guys like him, guys like (Colorado Avalanche center Nathan) MacKinnon, guys like (Edmonton Oilers center Connor) McDavid, they come back to the puck and you kind of lay it areas for him. Found him there early in the first, and what a play by him."
The Stars outshot the Wild 18-5 in the second period.
Johnston made it 2-0 at 13:37 of the second after Evgenii Dadonov picked the puck off Jake Middleton and backhanded a pass to Johnston in the slot. It was Johnston's first career Stanley Cup Playoff goal.
"It was an awesome play," Johnston said. "I think I just seen it once, and then a little spin-o-rama and kind of a blind pass to me. That was awesome."
Marchment extended it to 3-0 with one second remaining in the period with a breakaway goal after beating Jonas Brodin for a breakaway goal on a pass from Domi.

Fleury then replaced Gustavsson to start the third period.
"It's a fine line between winning and losing," Fleury said. "For me to have been done in the first round too many times, it's never easy. You always expect more from yourself or your team. The other team played well too. They try to win too, but it's still disappointing not to move on."
Gaudreau cut it to 3-1 at 12:53 of the third period, beating Oettinger in close before Domi scored an empty-net goal at 19:03 for the 4-1 final.
"I think it just says we can play any way," Marchment said. "You want to play physical, you want to play skill, when we play our game, that's the most important. We play our game, we're hard to beat. So just keep sticking to the details and that's all we can do."
NOTES: Pavelski missed his fifth consecutive game in concussion protocol. …Wild defenseman Matt Dumba left after the second period with an upper-body injury. … This is the fourth time DeBoer has advanced past the opening round in his first postseason as coach (also 2012 with the New Jersey Devils, 2016 with San Jose Sharks and 2020 with Vegas Golden Knights). He is the third head coach in NHL history to accomplish that feat, following Alain Vigneault and Roger Neilson. … At 19 years and 349 days, Johnston became the second-youngest player in Stars/Minnesota North Stars franchise history with a series-clinching goal, behind Brad Palmer (19 years, 237 days) in Game 6 of the 1981 Stanley Cup Semifinals.