3 Things to Watch: Stars at Wild, Game 6 of Western Conference 1st Round

(2C) Stars at (3C) Wild

Western Conference First Round, Game 6

Minnesota leads best-of-7 series 3-2

7:30 p.m. ET; HBO MAX, FDSNWI, FDSNNO, Victory+, truTV, TNT, SNE, SN360, TVAS

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- The day has finally arrived for the Minnesota Wild, 11 years in the making, a chance to win a series in the Stanley Cup Playoffs at home.

The Wild haven't won a round in the playoffs since the 2015 first round, when they defeated the St. Louis Blues in six games. The closest they have come since was against the Vegas Golden Knights in the 2021 Stanley Cup First Round, but Game 7 was at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and the Wild lost 6-2.

The drought can end at Grand Casino Arena on Thursday, when Minnesota and Dallas play Game 6 in what has been a tightly contested series, with the Wild holding the edge because of a dominant Game 1, an overtime win in Game 4, and a strong road win in Game 5.

The winner will face the Colorado Avalanche, who swept the Los Angeles Kings in their first-round series.

"The circumstances around the game don't do us any good if that's where our focus is," Wild coach John Hynes said. "The focus has to be on making sure that we're executing our gameplan, we're focused on playing the game and doing the things that we need to do to win the game. Whenever you focus on things that are out of your control or don't really have any impact on your performance than it's kind of wasted energy."

The Stars are not new to facing elimination. This is their ninth time up against it in 10 playoff rounds since 2023. They went 5-3 the previous eight times they faced elimination, including 3-0 in Game 7, but it did not go well for them the last time two times in Game 6. They lost to the Golden Knights in the 2023 Western Conference Final and the Edmonton Oilers in the 2024 conference final.

"That's the one luxury we have here in Dallas, just a lot of these guys are battle tested and have been in these tough situations before, starting right from our captain (Jamie Benn) and moving on down," Stars coach Glen Gulutzan said. "So, you lean on that heavily. You saw that this morning as we did our first kind of little video session, just staying in that right mindset. You can tell the group is confident but not cocky and is idling at a high level but not too high."

History favors the Wild in Game 6. Teams that lead a best-of-7 series 3-2 have won Game 6 at home 78.3 percent of the time in postseason history (145-40).

Here are 3 things to watch in Game 6:

1. Wild atmosphere

This will be all new to the Wild players, the chance to eliminate a team in front of more than 19,200 of their fans in St. Paul, Minnesota.

It's something defenseman Brock Faber was thinking about minutes after Minnesota finished off a 4-2 win in Dallas on Tuesday to take a 3-2 lead in the series.

"We've got to control our emotions," he said. "Sometimes when it gets loud like that you're kind of running all over. Try to stay poised, feed off it. It's going to be a fun night."

Faber and his defense partner, Quinn Hughes, played in that environment for Team USA in the 4 Nations Face-Off final last season, when the United States were considered the home team against Team Canada at TD Garden in Boston.

There were Canadian fans in the building that night. It's not likely there will be too many Stars fans in the arena for Game 6, but understanding the need to play under control in that environment with so much on the line can pay dividends.

"There were a couple times early in the series where I think we did let some of that get into our emotions," Hynes said, "but I would say over the last few games I think our focus and not allowing energy in the building, whether it's good for us or bad for us, alter how we need to play."

2. 5-on-5

The 5-on-5 goal differential in this series is a stark reminder for why the Wild have the edge going into Game 6.

Through five games, Minnesota has outscored Dallas 11-3 despite each team having 116 shots on goal and the Stars owning a 265-231 advantage in total shot attempts, according to NHL Stats. Dallas has had 81 shot attempts blocked and 68 have missed the net at 5-on-5.

"Obviously, they're defending hard," Stars forward Mikko Rantanen said. "They defend the middle really well in the offensive zone. We've gotten there a lot, but we've been on the outside maybe because they have five guys in the middle. We've got to try to get in there and get a couple of dirty ones, couple of playoff goals off shin pads and pants or whatever."

The Stars haven't scored a goal at 5-on-5 since Game 3. They've now gone 217:53 of consecutive game play without one.

"I think with us that little extra one degree of execution, one foot -- it's a one-foot league -- putting the pass on the tape in a better shot position for us, hitting the net instead of missing and hitting the glass," Gulutzan said. "Those are big differences in a game. One rebound can change a game."

3. Unexpected contribution

A goal from a depth forward or defensemen could be the difference in Game 6. It was in Games 3 and 4, and the Wild got them.

In Game 4, it was fourth-line forward Marcus Foligno delivering the game-tying goal with 5:20 remaining in the third period. Matt Boldy won it in overtime.

In Game 5, it was third-line center Michael McCarron getting behind the Dallas defense to score and give Minnesota a 3-1 lead at 7:47 of the third. It was the game-winning goal.

The Stars have not gotten similar production from their depth players. Their only goal scorers are the five skaters on its first power-play unit; Jason Robertson (five), Wyatt Johnston (three), Miro Heiskanen (two), Matt Duchene (two) and Rantanen (one). They've gotten five points, all assists, from four other players including defenseman Nils Lundkvist (two), who will not play because of a deep facial laceration.

"We keep circling back to it, you need people to step up whether it's your bottom six or your top six," Gulutzan said. "With big moments come big people, and that's what you're hoping for. You need it now."

Stars projected lineup

Jason Robertson -- Wyatt Johnston -- Mavrik Bourque

Sam Steel -- Matt Duchene -- Mikko Rantanen

Michael Bunting -- Justin Hryckowian -- Jamie Benn

Oskar Back -- Radek Faksa -- Colin Blackwell

Thomas Harley -- Miro Heiskanen

Esa Lindell -- Ilya Lyubushkin

Lian Bichsel -- Alexander Petrovic

Jake Oettinger

Casey DeSmith

Scratched: Kyle Capobianco, Adam Erne, Tyler Myers

Injured: Nathan Bastian (hand), Roope Hintz (lower body), Nils Lundkvist (face laceration), Tyler Seguin (ACL), Arttu Hyry (lower body)

Wild projected lineup

Kirill Kaprizov -- Ryan Hartman -- Mats Zuccarello

Marcus Johansson -- Joel Eriksson Ek -- Matt Boldy

Vladimir Tarasenko -- Michael McCarron -- Yakov Trenin

Marcus Foligno -- Nico Sturm -- Nick Foligno

Quinn Hughes -- Brock Faber

Jake Middleton -- Jared Spurgeon

Zach Bogosian -- Jeff Petry

Jesper Wallstedt

Filip Gustavsson

Scratched: Robby Fabbri, Viking Gustafsson-Nyberg, Daemon Hunt, Matt Kiersted, Danila Yurov, Bobby Brink

Injured: Jonas Brodin (lower body)

Status report

Hyry did not participate in the morning skate, and the forward will not play after being injured in the second period of Game 5. … Bunting will make his series debut. ... Petrovic will replace Myers, a defenseman, and make his series debut. ... Hintz did not make the trip and continues to skate on his own. The center has not played since March 6. ... The Wild held an optional skate. ... Brodin is out. The defenseman left Game 5 at 1:44 of the second period after blocking a shot by Rantanen and is day to day. Petry will replace him and make his series debut.

NHL.com senior draft writer Mike G. Morreale contributed to this report