Stars show up in Game 2, deliver response to even Western 1st Round

DALLAS -- The Dallas Stars showed up in the Stanley Cup Playoffs on Monday and won 4-2 against the Minnesota Wild in Game 2 of the Western Conference First Round at American Airlines Center to even the best-of-7 series 1-1.

"From our end anyway, it was a playoff game," Stars coach Glen Gulutzan said. "I thought they played two, we played one."

A game too late maybe, but the Stars nevertheless arrived in time to make this first round showdown between them and the Wild, two of the top teams in the League in the regular season, look and feel and sound exactly as it should.

It was fast. 

It was physical. 

It was tight. 

It was energetic. 

It was unfriendly. 

It was a heck of a lot of fun.

"I think the first game, they outplayed us in every single category and that's unacceptable this time of the year," Stars forward Colin Blackwell said of the 6-1 loss in Game 1 on Saturday. "I think it was a good response from our group. We're expecting it to be a big, physical, battle-tested group on both sides. It's a fun one. You want to play in these. You want to be a part of this. It was close all the way to the end. I think it's going to be a fun series."

The series shifts to Minnesota for Games 3 and 4 at Grand Casino Arena on Wednesday and Saturday. 

The Stars and Wild now have the blueprint for what to expect the rest of the way, and it certainly doesn't look anything like Game 1, which resembled a regular-season game in January, at least for the Stars.

"You have two really good teams that are highly competitive and I think you saw that tonight," Wild coach John Hynes said. "I don't think it's a surprise. I think for us, we put together two highly competitive games and could have won two, but we only won one. So gather some information out of this game and then get ready for Game 3."

It wasn't Minnesota's play that made the difference in Game 2. The Wild were solid, albeit not as dangerous on the power play, going 0-for-4 as opposed to their 2-for-4 in Game 1. They were able to move the puck and generate grade A looks in the slot. 

"We had our chances to win," defenseman Brock Faber, who scored both of Minnesota's goals, said.

They didn't win because the Stars delivered on their promise to raise their level in Game 2.

In fact, Monday morning, as he was still reflecting on the horror show that was Game 1 from Dallas' perspective, forward Matt Duchene said he thought the Stars played at about 70 percent capacity in that game, whereas the Wild played at 100.

The Stars found the extra 30 percent through their forecheck and physicality, their special teams and the play of goalie Jake Oettinger (28 saves), especially in the first period, as he made a couple dynamic saves to prevent the Wild from running away with it early.

"Sometimes, when you're a good team, you're almost playing against yourself as much as you're playing against the other team because if you get to that level, you know you can compete and win games, but sometimes the challenge is just getting to that level," Duchene said. "I thought the guys did tonight. We had intensity and we had confidence, and when you have confidence and intensity, you're dictating the game. I thought we did a good job of that."

He theorized why the Stars didn't do that in Game 1.

"I wonder if part of us was thinking maybe a little bit too far down the line," Duchene said. "We've gone to the conference final three years in a row, but you have got to look right over the hood in the playoffs. You can't look too far down the road. I'm wondering if we were maybe thinking a little bit that way. When you take yourself out of the moment in this playoff, you're screwed. You've got to be right where your skates are, or where your boots are, or whatever you've got on your feet. I thought tonight we were."

Bounces helped, like the two they got on Wyatt Johnston's goals.

He put the Stars up 1-0 at 8:58 of the first period with a shot from distance that went off the end boards and banked in off Wild goalie Jesper Wallstedt. 

His empty-net goal at 19:10 of the third period happened because he flung the puck down the ice from the defensive zone and it took a slight hop in, fooling Wild defenseman Quinn Hughes as he was going back to play it. It slowed Hughes down enough so he couldn't catch up to the puck before it went in the net.

"I'm just trying to get the puck there," Johnston said, "and good things happen when you do that."

You could make a case for the Stars making their luck or earning their bounces in Game 2. 

You couldn't in Game 1, probably a big reason why they didn't get anything to go their way.

But two games in, the series that was expected to be tight, fast and physical is all of that and more. It's even, and it's obvious that both teams have arrived in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

"I can't see it going back," Gulutzan said. "I think it's just going to stay like this as we go forward. That's what I believe in. I was actually thinking that before you even asked the question, it's probably going to stay like this the whole time. I've seen these things, though. They can get wonky when it's this close and there's this much energy in it, but I think the energy will stay the same for sure."