Wild can’t let emotions cost them in what could be a classic series with Stars

DALLAS — First of all, this is already one heck of a series.

It’s the kind of knock-down, drag-out, fight-for-every-freaking-inch series that everyone expected when two of the league’s best teams and division rivals meet in the first round. There are plenty of stars, and there may also be a few scars by the end.

Let’s play seven. Or nine (if they could).

The question is, would there be any players left?

Not with plays like Marcus Foligno’s WWE-style headlock/takedown of Thomas Harley late in the second period of Monday’s 4-2 Dallas Stars win over the Minnesota Wild. Harley was interfering with Foligno as they skated by the Wild bench, the Minnesota veteran winger locked him up, and by Foligno’s account, the stanchion got in the way.

“Do you think I’m going to think about smashing a guy’s head in that quick of time? No,” Foligno said. “It’s unfortunate that there’s glass in the way.”

Foligno got a double minor for roughing, Harley two minutes for interference. That’s the kind of trade the Stars are happy to make after getting even in this first-round series, 1-1, by baiting the Wild to get even with them in pre- and post-whistle shenanigans.

Marcus Foligno’s penalty didn’t lead to a Stars power-play goal, but his brother Nick’s careless elbowing penalty earlier did.

That Dallas evened the series Monday is hardly a surprise. The Wild expected a pushback from a group that’s been to three straight Western Conference finals after dominating them in a 6-1 win in Game 1.

But the Wild, who have had a lead in six straight playoff series, are in danger of letting another one slip away if they lets their emotions get the best of them.

“They want it. I mean, they’re looking to play five-on-four,” Marcus Foligno said. “I mean, that’s their game. They can’t hang with us five-on-five. So just same thing as before, we’ve got to just be smarter, and myself included. But it’s a heated game out there. You’re gonna have emotional swings and learn from it. And we’ve got a split series.”

The Wild feel they’re a better and, as Brock Faber said, “tougher” team. But they don’t have to prove that to win the series. This is the best team in franchise history, loaded with stars like Matt Boldy, Kirill Kaprizov, Quinn Hughes and Faber, who has been sensational. They’re deep. And they have the goalie, with rookie Jesper Wallstedt so far mostly unflappable in his first two postseason starts. And it’s shown in five-on-five play, when even in Monday’s loss, they outchanced Dallas.

The Wild threatened to rally back from a 3-1 deficit, too, before a too-many-men penalty and an empty-netter sealed this one.

Jake Oettinger was a difference-maker after a shaky Game 1, and the Lakeville, Minn., native is known for his stellar play at his hometown Grand Casino Arena. The Wild are now without Mats Zuccarello and Yakov Trenin, both dealing with upper-body injuries. Their status is up in the air for Wednesday’s Game 3.

So the last thing the Wild can do is give Wyatt Johnston, Jason Robertson and company so many freebies, so many power plays.

“The scrums and stuff, that just drains the life out of the bench and positivity,” Faber said. “There’s a time and a place for it. I think they had the upper hand in that tonight.

“But still, we had our chances to win.”

The Stars set the tone early with Colin Blackwell’s booming, open-ice hit on Trenin, who was down for a bit and left the game holding a towel to his head. The hit was clean, but it was hard for the Wild to watch the NHL’s hits leader and a 6-foot-2, 201-pound forechecking force knocked to the ice by the 5-foot-8, 181-pound Blackwell.

No one felt worse than Zach Bogosian, whose breakout pass put the winger in a vulnerable spot. “Love to have that back,” Bogosian said.

Marcus Foligno immediately approached Blackwell but didn’t cross the line.

“I’m trying to be smarter out there,” he said.

The rest of the game, both he and the rest of the group weren’t.

“I thought they beat us up the first game,” Blackwell said. “That’s what this seven-game series is going to be all about. They’ve got some big, heavy guys, and (to) answer the bell that way … this is a fun time of year to be playing, and I think a lot of guys did a really good job of just being physical and being harder to play against tonight.”

Nick Foligno’s elbowing penalty on Nils Lundkvist early in the second led to Matt Duchene’s power-play goal that gave the Stars the lead for good. A careless too-many-men penalty in the final two minutes cost the Wild any legit chance at a thrilling comeback.

The fact that the Wild lost Game 2, though, shouldn’t make fans overly concerned. Heck, they’ve never held a 2-0 series lead in franchise history, so why start now?

But this was not the case of a rookie goalie and the stage being too big. Wallstedt, after a weird bounce on the first goal, gave the Wild every chance to come back and should be in net for Game 3. This wasn’t the case of Minnesota coming out flat. Or playing scared. Or, quite frankly, being the lesser team. They have the size and the skill and the sandpaper.

They just need to be smarter.

“We’re comfortable playing any style,” Bogosian said. “We’ve got to make sure we channel our emotions in the right way. They have a good team. You put them five-on-four, they’re going to make plays. We believe in what we can do no matter what, whether it’s five-on-five or the power play or killing penalties. But you certainly have to have a little more gamesmanship and do things at the right time.”

The series now switches to the Twin Cities, and the Wild have their own adjustments to make. The Stars were able to blanket and slow down Minnesota’s top forwards. Kaprizov (two shots), Joel Eriksson Ek and Boldy, who combined for five goals and nine points in Game 1, combined for just two in Game 2. The injury to Zuccarello looms large, as Vladimir Tarasenko just hasn’t been a fit on the top line with Kaprizov and Ryan Hartman. Could we see Hunter Haight get the call in Game 3?

The Wild’s power play went 0-for-4 on Monday. The Stars were more aggressive, making subtle tweaks that took the middle away and forced Minnesota to the perimeter too much.

There’s no reason to hit the panic button if you’re a Wild fan. This doesn’t feel like here we go again. But this is too good of a team, and they’ve waited way too long to get in their own way. The thing is, Marcus Foligno said a few weeks ago that they had learned from the previous Stars series in 2023, when Dallas scored nine power-play goals to feast on an unglued Minnesota team and a struggling PK.

Foligno said they were “more educated, more experienced.”

They have to play with an edge without going over it.

“I think generally at the start of the series, it’s pretty intense, pretty emotional,” Bogosian said. “But we have emotional guys. That’s why we’re all here. That’s why we’re in this position. Everyone cares. We’ll regroup. Listen, it’s hard to win. We came here, got Game 1, dropped Game 2, but we were right there at the end.”

Said Boldy: “It’s going to be a long, hard series.”