Heika’s Take: Stars’ emotional comeback win over Wild a tasty First Round preview

Well, that was a tasty hors d'oeuvre.

With the Dallas Stars and Minnesota Wild scheduled to begin a First Round playoff series in just over a week, a head-to-head battle at American Airlines Center on Thursday night had all the makings of an emotional evening filled with both skill and skullduggery.

It didn’t disappoint.

The lads in Victory Green were whistled for 20 penalty minutes and allowed three power play goals against, but then bounced back and took a 5-4 victory that puts them a breath away from clinching home ice for the series.

Colin Blackwell, Wyatt Johnston and Mikko Rantanen each had a goal and an assist, and Jason Robertson fired in the game-winner with nine minutes left in the third period to move the Stars to 47-20-12 (106 points). Minnesota falls to 45-22-12 (102 points). Since the first tiebreaker is regulation wins and Dallas has a 36-30 lead in that department, the Wild would have to finish ahead of the Stars in the standings to get home ice.

Since each team has three games remaining, any combination of two points for Dallas (or two points lost by Minnesota) means the First Round will start at American Airlines Center next week.

“It was one of those games that was a good character win, and we were able to come back like that, especially on home ice,” said Blackwell. “The matchup is already set, so I think it was setting the tone. They are a big, physical team and we are not going to take any of it, and I think we did a good job there.”

The Wild came out and delivered six hits in the first four minutes, but Dallas responded well to the physicality and Johnston scored his 44th goal of the year 4:26 into the game. Minnesota bounced back with a beautiful tally from defenseman Quinn Hughes and two power play goals to take a 3-1 lead into the second period.

But that’s when the Stars showed their depth and versatility.

Blackwell made a dazzling toe drag and beat Filip Gustavsson to make it 3-2. A little later in the period, he got the puck to the net so that Cameron Hughes could score the first NHL goal of his career.

The Stars are missing injured forwards Roope Hintz, Radek Faksa, Sam Steel, Michael Bunting and Nathan Bastian, so they had to call Hughes up from the minors. The 29-year-old has nine seasons of AHL experience but was playing in just his fourth NHL game. He said he had promised his dad that he would score in the NHL, so he was excited to deliver that puck as a gift.

“It's a long time coming,” Hughes said. “I’ve always dreamed of scoring my first goal, and I told my dad I was going to get him a puck. And scoring in a game that means something, that’s a big game, it just makes it even more special.”

The line of Blackwell, Hughes and Oskar Bäck was diligent in creating chances and energy, and also standing up to the Wild in a game that had much animosity. They weren’t alone, as pretty much every player was in a scrum at some point. The evening ended with Rantanen and Quinn Hughes in a skirmish, showing just how deep the truculence went.

“Every superstar is going to have to get into that as we go forward, and I did like a lot of our responses,” said Gulutzan. “I liked our team toughness, for sure.”

The Stars gave up another power play goal to go down 4-3 at the end of the second period, but Rantanen had a puck deflect in off of his skate to tie things up in the third, and then Robertson cashed in on a brilliant shot midway through the third to give Dallas a 5-4 lead.

It was Robertson’s 42nd goal of the season and slipped through a tiny opening to nestle into the net. It was a great sign of how Dallas needed all of its fists and all of its hands to get this victory.

And the Stars did it without Miro Heiskanen for much of the game. The team’s best defenseman went out after he got twisted up on a hit near the end boards. Gulutzan said the team would know more on Friday.

“There was a lot of adversity in the game and a lot of emotion,” Robertson said. “We stuck with it. The defense stepped up and our penalty kill got one in the end. They wanted it. They wanted it badly. They got it done. A lot of guys contributed.”

After allowing three power play goals against, the Stars held the fort in the final three minutes against a Minnesota power play that added an extra skater by pulling the goalie. It was a moment that will be talked about when the pre-scouting for the series begins.

“We always talk about power plays and penalty kills, and it’s not always about what your percentage is…it’s when you get kills and when you get goals on the power play,” Gulutzan said. “You have to get them in important situations. I thought that kill at the end was a really good character kill from our guys that defined the word ‘when’. We got a good kill.”

Gulutzan said the Stars can not give Minnesota five power plays in future games and added that there was a lot to learn from this game.

“It was a hard-fought game,” Gulutzan said. “I thought our guys did a good job rallying hard in the third to get the win. I thought it was a good character win.”

Especially with the full dinner to follow.

This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.

Mike Heika is a Senior Staff Writer for DallasStars.com and has covered the Stars since 1994. Follow him on X @MikeHeika.