Stars, Wild set for 'chess match' entering Game 5 of Western 1st Round

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- An even series between the Dallas Stars and the Minnesota Wild after four games in the Western Conference First Round, with two requiring overtime and each team winning one, with good goaltending and razor-thin margins.

That sounds about right considering these two teams also split their regular-season series with each team scoring 13 goals in four games.

"It's going to be a chess match down the last little bit here," Wild forward Nick Foligno said.

How the pieces move will determine who checkmates and earns a date with the Colorado Avalanche in the second round.

To get there, the adjustments from here on out, starting with Game 5 at American Airlines Center in Dallas on Tuesday (8 p.m. ET; FDSNWI, FDSNNO, Victory+, ESPN2, TVAS2, SN360), will be fascinating to watch. Although the best-of-7 series is tied 2-2, there are a couple of major discrepancies in how it got to this point after four games.

The Wild are outscoring the Stars 9-3 at 5-on-5. 

The Stars are outscoring the Wild 8-3 on the power play.

"I don't know what to make of it," Foligno said. "I agree, it's probably strange."

It is especially strange since Dallas and Minnesota were each dominant on the power play and middle-of-the-road on the penalty kill in the regular season.

The Stars were second in the NHL on the man-advantage (28.6 percent), including 44.4 percent in four games against the Wild. Minnesota was third (25.2 percent), including 35.7 percent against Dallas.

The Stars were 13th on the penalty kill (80.3 percent) and the Wild ranked 16th (79.8 percent), but it's Dallas that has killed 10 consecutive power plays and 14 of 15 since Minnesota went 2-for-4 in Game 1, a 6-1 win, and also going 8-for-19 on the power play in the series, including 6-for-11 since late in the second period of Game 2.

"Chemistry," Stars forward Mikko Rantanen said. "The guys we have, we've played together all year. We're making plays and moving the puck quick, but obviously it helps when you get goals. Confidence grows."

Dallas has won 18 of 31 face-offs on the power play in the past three games, including two of three in Game 4, when it went 2-for-2 with the man-advantage.

"That's an automatic set for them," Wild coach John Hynes said. "If you give them easy sets then they run rotations down low and they do a good job of it."

Minnesota clearly has to improve on the power play, which is why the possibility of forward Mats Zuccarello returning from an upper-body injury for Game 5 seemed to give the team a jolt at practice Monday.

Zuccarello assisted on both of Joel Eriksson Ek's power-play goals in Game 1, each a one-timer from the slot after the Wild moved the puck around and ran the power play through Zuccarello on the left-wing half wall.

He hasn't played in the three games since and Minnesota has looked out of sorts with the man-advantage, too perimeter-based without a threatening look from the slot.

"It's important to have him back," defenseman Quinn Hughes said.

Zuccarello is questionable Tuesday, but he practiced with the first unit and ran a meeting with the group that also features Eriksson Ek, Kirill Kaprizov, Matt Boldy and Hughes after they were done going through their sets.

"We all know that you're going to need the power play to win," Hughes said. "If anything, it gives us confidence knowing that it's 2-2 in the series and we're playing good hockey 5-on-5. So are they, but if we can get our power play going, that might really help us." 

It should, especially if the Wild can kill some penalties, too, but then they also have to maintain their 5-on-5 advantage. 

The Stars have a plan to negate that.

It's the same plan the Wild have to keep it.

"There's not going to be some fancy goals that are scored in this series if you look at the games as a whole," Dallas coach Glen Gulutzan said. "We've got to find a few more tips. We've got to get to the net harder.

"It's the blue paint wars. It's really now hand-to-hand combat in the blue paint on both sides."

Boldy won his battle to get there in overtime Saturday and scored with a deflection of Jared Spurgeon's shot from the point, giving Minnesota a 3-2 victory.

The Wild also got a 5-on-5 goal that went in off Stars defenseman Miro Heiskanen and forced overtime with Marcus Foligno's 5-on-5 goal at 14:40 of the third period, when he went hard to the net, jabbed at a loose puck and created a fortunate bounce.

"I think we've been better than them 5-on-5; I don't think that it's been like a crazy difference," Wild defenseman Brock Faber said. "We've given up chances. They've given up chances. It's a few bounces here and there from being a completely different story."

To Faber's point, Minnesota is only plus-2 in 5-on-5 shots on goal differential (103-101) despite being plus-6 in 5-on-5 goal differential.

Dallas, though, has not scored a 5-on-5 goal since Jason Robertson's at 13:48 of the first period in Game 3, a stretch of 157:53 of consecutive game play.

"If you look at all the metrics like cycle chances, slot chances, slot looks, slot shots and even attempts, they're up there," Gulutzan said. "We just have to take the next step, get to some loose pucks, get some tips, that kind of thing. Everything else is there, forecheck and zone time, but certainly there is a next step to it."

If the Stars take it and get a greasy one in front of the net, maybe they win Game 5 and take a 3-2 lead in the series. Or maybe the Wild do enough on special teams to get the road win and earn a chance to close out the series at home Thursday.

"We knew how tight these games were going to be, how close these two teams are, so it's not shocking that the last couple have gone to overtime," Dallas goalie Jake Oettinger said. "I wouldn't be surprised if there was at least another one."