Morning Skate Wrap Up: Wild at Stars

It’s Game 1 of the First Round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs tonight as the Minnesota Wild faces its Central Division rival, the Dallas Stars at 4:30 on ESPN, FanDuel Sports Network and KFAN FM 100.3. These two teams met four times in the regular season, with both teams going unbeaten in their respective arenas. This also marks the third time Minnesota and Dallas will meet in the playoffs—Dallas has won the previous two meetings in six games (2016 and 2023).

This year marks the 15th time the Wild has advanced to the Stanley Cup Playoffs and the 12th time in the last 14 seasons. However, Minnesota long awaits a playoff series win as it has not advanced past the First Round since 2015. With that said, many believe this is finally the team that can push Minnesota over the hump.

This is a team led by a three-headed monster in Matt Boldy, Quinn Hughes and Kirill Kaprizov. Boldy enters postseason play coming off a career-year that saw him post 85 points (42-43=85). Hughes, acquired in December, transformed the Wild’s identity making it an instant Stanley Cup contender while posting 53 points (5-48=53) in just 48 games. Kaprizov remained the steady constant Wild fans are accustomed to seeing, leading Minnesota with 89 points (45-44=89).

Another pleasant surprise for Minnesota this season was the performance of its Game 1 starter, rookie Jesper Wallstedt.

His performance in November that saw him go 6-0-0 with a 1.14 GAA, a .967 SV% and three shutouts was a major factor in turning this season around for Minnesota. His 18 wins on the season set a single-season franchise record for a rookie goaltender, while his .916 SV% ranked second in the NHL and his four shutouts were T-3rd.

Outside of the individual play, this is one of the more well-rounded Wild rosters fans have seen in recent memory. Its 104 points on the season are tied for the third-most in team history while its 46 wins is tied for the fourth-most in franchise history. Along with that, Minnesota excelled in special teams this season, which is critically important in postseason play. According to Stats Perform, Minnesota had a special-teams goal differential of +25 this season (72-47), which led the NHL. The 72 goals in special-team’s situations were Minnesota’s most in a season since 2008-09 (75).

Starting on the road in this series will be no easy task for the Wild, as the Stars went 26-11-4 at home this season, including three consecutive wins to close out the year. Minnesota is battle tested on the road, however. Owning a record of 23-14-4 in games played away from St. Paul, and according to Stats Perform, the Wild averaged 3.46 goals scored per game on the road this season, which tied them with the Penguins and Avalanche for third highest in the NHL, behind the Lightning (3.68) and Canadiens (3.51). Boldy led the way with 21 goals on the road this season.

The Wild will look to steal home-ice advantage today just like it did in 2023 after a thrilling double-overtime win in Game 1. Minnesota jumped out to 2-1 series lead that year, and as mentioned, fell to the Stars in six games. The path to rewriting its playoff woes begins today and this feels like a Wild team that is primed to do just that.