Back home to ‘reset’ as playoff series intensifies

The Minnesota Wild almost couldn’t have drawn up a better Game 1 to start the Stanley Cup Playoffs on the road against the Dallas Stars, scoring the most goals in franchise history to open a playoff series and getting goals from four different players in a 6-1 victory. 

But it was only one game in a seven-game series. Just like a 4-2 loss in Game 2 was also only one game. 

“Every game’s a reset,” said forward Ryan Hartman. “It doesn’t matter where you’re at, what the series is at, take each game as a new day and every win gets harder.” 

A competitive series between two division rivals should be expected, and the intensity rises the deeper teams get ingrained into the series. In Game 2, the Stars led 1-0 briefly, before later taking 2-1 and 3-1 leads, adding an empty-netter in a late one-goal game. 

The Wild expected an answer from the Stars, Matt Boldy said Monday night, in the hard-fought game after the opener of the weekend. 

“It’s playoff hockey. That’s the expectation,” Boldy said. “I think the fans and everyone watching are kind of seeing how different it is from a regular-season game, and that’s good. It’s going to be a hard series.” 

The Wild are in a familiar place as far as where the series stands, tied 1-1. In each of their last playoff series in 2022 vs. St. Louis, 2023 vs. Dallas and 2025 vs. Vegas, the Wild won Game 3. Like the last two series, they came away with a victory on the road before heading home for games 3 and 4 in St. Paul. 

On paper, the Wild have already stolen home-ice advantage from the Stars in this seven-game series with the offensively-dominating 6-1 victory in Game 1. But coach John Hynes doesn’t exactly see it as “stealing” a game. It’s more about shifting focus to the next game and the team’s preparation. 

“We went and we won Game 1, and it was a highly contested Game 2 that we didn’t come out on top,” Hynes said Tuesday. “Now it’s just all about Game 3. 

“We went 1-1. I thought we were pretty competitive in both games. We can be better tomorrow.”

The Wild will be back in front of their home fans at Grand Casino Arena for the next two games of the series. Minnesota went 23-10-8 in its home building this season. 

Fans will have a chance to enjoy the day, and summer-like temperatures forecasted in the 80s, ahead of another late-evening puck drop Wednesday night. 

“We’re very excited. We know what our fans bring,” Hartman said. “Sure, the warm weather helps. But I think we’ve shown that doesn’t matter if it’s negative 20 or 70 degrees, I think the fans are going to be there, and they’re going to be getting that building going.

“Hopefully we want to get off to an early start and get them into it right away, because obviously they make a difference.” 

Hartman noted that it’s been a while since he played in St. Paul as a visitor, having played for three previous teams prior to joining the Wild in 2019-20.

“But it was always such a hard building to play in,” Hartman said. “I think over the years, we’ve really made that a thing. We’ve really honed in on making playing in Minnesota hard, and we want to make sure we continue that tomorrow.” 

Home ice also gives teams and coaches a change to go with specific lines or matchups during the game with the last change. That matchup strategy, of putting Wild players on the ice after the Stars have their line set, can be effective, Hynes said, adding that “it all comes down to how our team is going to be able to play.” 

“I think we have a good group,” Hynes said. “Matchups can be advantageous at times.” 

Despite the loss, Hynes said his team did a lot of good things in Game 2, including maintaining their competitiveness. They didn’t take a step back from the first game in terms of their style of game or opportunities to score. They’ll take information from each game and help them prepare for the next one, focusing on facets of their game that they can control.

Hynes spoke with his team after Game 2, getting them mentally prepped for Game 3. 

“Sometimes in the regular season, you talk to a team after a game, always after wins, sometimes after losses if you think the team needed it, or it’s the right time to do it,” Hynes said. 

The momentum in playoffs can shift from shift to shift, period to period, game to game. Sometimes it shifts with a certain result, a tone-setting goal or physical scrum on the ice, of which there have already been plenty this series. Even adversity of injuries that pop up factors into lineups and the approach to games. 

Either way, the impact of each game is heightened, certainly much more than any regular-season contest. 

“Every game is more and more important,” Hartman said. “Obviously, the stakes grow as you get further and further in the series. 

“Every game gets bigger.”