Heika's Take: The discomfort of a learning curve

The Minnesota Wild did what they were supposed to do on Friday night.
The Dallas Stars did not.
As a result, the Wild took a 5-1 win at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul and took a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.

Dallas gave up two goals on defensive mistakes and a third on a controversial power play, and that was enough to dig a 3-1 hole the offense couldn't climb out of. In the end, there were plenty of places to affix blame, including the power play, the lack of defensive detail, and a battle of physicality that went to the Wild.
"I didn't like the first two goals we gave up defensively," Stars coach Pete DeBoer said. "You can't give up goals like that at this time of year. And I think offensively, we didn't do enough at the other end of the ice. We didn't make it tough enough on their goalie, we didn't generate enough. It was a pretty simple game."

Mats Zuccarello outworked Jani Hakanpää for positioning in front of the net on the first goal, and Marcus Johansson danced around Colin Miller for the second. Luke Glendening was able to score 11 seconds after the Johansson goal to make it 2-1, but the Wild came up with a huge power play goal midway through the second period.
Marcus Foligno reached up and tipped down a Gustav Nyquist shot, and officials originally called it a high stick on the play, negating the goal. However, they went to video review and said there was a replay that showed Foligno made contact with the puck at the exact level of the crossbar, so it was then declared a good goal. The evidence had to be "conclusive" to overturn the call, and DeBoer said he respected the process.
He added that he didn't agree with the tripping penalty on Ty Dellandrea that gave Minnesota the man advantage.
"I don't have a problem with the replay of the goal. I had a problem with the original penalty," DeBoer said. "That was my problem. I didn't think we should be shorthanded to have that goal scored on the power play."
The series has been filled with physical play, and officials have been forced to make some tight decisions. Matt Dumba came close to boarding or cross checking or roughing on a couple of plays. The Wild continued to taunt the Stars for "diving" when penalties weren't called. In the end, the Stars finished with just two power plays and made very little of either.
"We only had a couple of opportunities," said Jason Robertson. "I wouldn't say we were nonchalant in the thinking that maybe we would get a lot of chances like the past couple of games. But you just have to focus on the first one and not take it for granted, because you never know. We kind of took that for granted today and we'll be sharper for next game."

The Stars scored five power play goals in the first two games, and the Wild continue to play physical hockey, so both teams are trying to read the officials and the flow of the game.
Wild coach Dean Evason said his team was trying hard to keep the Stars off the power play, and they were very good at sticking to the details that allowed that to happen. They also did a much better job of creating chances and defending against Dallas' rush game. The Wild had 10 more scoring chances, despite the fact the Stars had a 37-22 advantage in faceoff wins. Minnesota then had a 22-13 edge in blocked shots and won the battle of hits, 26-17.
Roope Hintz, who had a hat trick in Game 2, didn't have a shot on goal. Robertson had eight shot attempts, but four of them were blocked.
When asked what more he can do, Robertson said, "Maybe not get so many shots blocked, try to get more open spaces, maybe take more pucks to the net. Maybe I'm being too perimeter."
Robertson had the second-best scoring season in franchise history with 109 points. So far in the playoffs, he has one goal and two assists and all on the power play. That's not bad, but the team needs more with Joe Pavelski injured and out of the lineup.
"It's not a secret. It gets a lot tougher to create offense five-on-five in the playoffs," DeBoer said. "You have to be willing to do some things that aren't comfortable, get to places on the ice that aren't comfortable. And that's a learning curve for young scorers. He went through the playoffs last year and dealt with that, and every year you hope you learn something. But he wasn't alone on that boat. We had way too many passengers offensively up front."
The Wild on Friday got a complete effort from the entire roster and seized momentum in the series. That puts the Stars in a position where they really need to win Game 4 on Sunday in Minnesota or risk falling to 3-1 in the series.
DeBoer said he is focusing on having the right answer.
"Whether you lose 1-0 or 5-1, it's one game," the coach said. "We're down 2-1. We've got a chance to get a split here and get home ice back with a big effort next game, so that's what we're looking to do."
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 Twitter @MikeHeika