{"id":551182,"date":"2026-04-12T14:52:34","date_gmt":"2026-04-12T14:52:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/551182\/"},"modified":"2026-04-12T14:52:34","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T14:52:34","slug":"the-wild-must-be-the-adult-in-the-room-to-beat-the-stars-minnesota-wild","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/551182\/","title":{"rendered":"The Wild Must Be the Adult in the Room to Beat the Stars – Minnesota Wild"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tThursday night\u2019s game between the Minnesota Wild and Dallas Stars was a playoff preview. The 5-4 loss had everything a hockey fan could dream of this time of year. Some were declaring it \u201cGame Zero<\/a>\u201d in advance of the best-of-seven series<\/a> that will begin next week.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tBut lost in all the fists and goals that Minnesota and Dallas threw around came a sobering reality. While fans love physical play and two teams that hate each other, the only thing Wild fans would love more is getting out of the first round of the playoffs.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tTo do that, the Wild will have to dispose of the Stars. But instead of trying to fight with the bully, the best way Minnesota can win this series is by being the adult in the room.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tThat doesn\u2019t mean that there was anything wrong with Thursday\u2019s game. The Wild went blow-for-blow with the Stars, and they occasionally looked like the more disciplined team. But the game also brought back memories of their undisciplined playoff history<\/a> and how it could hurt them when the playoffs begin.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tThis Wild core got its first taste of the playoffs in 2021. While they came back from a 3-1 series deficit to push the series to seven games, the Vegas Golden Knights outscored them 11-2 in the second period of each game.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n\tCritical lapses in discipline, such as Ryan Hartman<\/a> and Marcus Foligno<\/a>\u2019s back-to-back penalties in Game 5 and matching minor penalties for Jordan Greenway<\/a> and Joel Eriksson Ek<\/a> in Game 6, also made things harder than they had to be and could have sent the Wild home earlier before Vegas blasted them 6-2 in Game 7.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tThe following year, the Wild faced the St. Louis Blues. While they earned home ice advantage, their penalty kill did them in. Minnesota tallied 74 penalty minutes and managed a miserable 69.2% penalty kill rate. The Wild looked capable of a run that year, but St. Louis sent them home in six games.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tThose two series are part of the scars Wild fans have entering the playoffs. But it\u2019s nothing compared to the last time they faced the Stars in 2023. Minnesota took 24 penalties in that series, and Dallas capitalized by scoring nine times. While the penalties were bad, the timing was worse, especially for Foligno.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Wild had a 2-1 lead in the series and were scoreless going into the second period of Game 4 in St. Paul. Foligno\u2019s interference penalty at 14:53 of the second period led to Tyler Seguin<\/a> opening the scoring on the ensuing power play, and Dallas expanded the lead on Evgenii Dadonov<\/a>\u2019s goal 3:05 into the third period.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tWhile John Klingberg<\/a> cut the lead in half a few minutes later, another questionable tripping penalty put the Stars on the power play, leading to another Seguin goal and helping Dallas bring the series back home tied at two games apiece.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tIn Game 5, Foligno was assessed a five-minute major and a game misconduct for a knee-on-knee hit to Radek Faksa<\/a> 2:14 after the opening faceoff. Eight seconds later, Dallas had the lead on a Seguin power play goal, and they went on to win 4-0 and eventually take the series in six games.\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tWild fans would be quick to point out that some of the players who were on these teams are no longer with the team. The Wild also looked like a more mature team during a six-game playoff series against the Golden Knights last spring. Still, it also had undisciplined moments, such as a Gustav Nyquist<\/a> offsides penalty that wiped out a potential go-ahead goal by Hartman late in regulation.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tThere\u2019s also a long history of the Wild losing its cool. It was just over a year ago that Hartman was suspended for giving Tim Stutzle<\/a> a hockey version of a DDT<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tTwo years ago, when Hartman threw his stick toward an official after a frustrating loss to Vegas, before the Wild missed the playoffs.\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tJohn Hynes\u2019s miserable playoff history<\/a> can\u2019t be ignored, and it gives the upcoming playoff series a \u201cStars in six until it isn\u2019t\u201d kind of vibe.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tBut Minnesota has been working to fix the problem. The Wild are tied for fifth with 7.8 penalty minutes per game this season. But their 79.2% penalty kill rate ranks 17th entering Saturday\u2019s action, and they\u2019ll be facing a Dallas power play that ranks second in the NHL at 28.5%.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tDallas also has some discipline issues, with its 8.6 penalty minutes per game, which ranks 16th. The Wild\u2019s power play also ranks third with a 25.5% conversion rate and can make the Stars pay for their transgressions. However, they won\u2019t have the opportunity to do so if they\u2019re constantly marching to the penalty box.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s something to consider after watching Matt Boldy<\/a> ground and pound as Thursday\u2019s game was slipping away. If Dallas wants to throw hands for six or seven games, it would be wise for the Wild to match that physicality without it harming the team.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tNormally, officials let teams play it out instead of turning playoff games into a ref show. But as most fans who have attended a playoff game know, they aren’t perfect and can make a call that can change the balance of the series if the Wild put themselves in a bad situation. The better call is to be the adult in the room and let the Stars make the pivotal mistakes that could help Minnesota advance to the playoffs for the first time since 2014-15.\n<\/p>\n

\n Think you could write a story like this? Hockey Wilderness wants you to develop your voice, find an audience, and we’ll pay you to do it. Just fill out this form<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Thursday night\u2019s game between the Minnesota Wild and Dallas Stars was a playoff preview. The 5-4 loss had…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":551183,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5118],"tags":[147,5,161,38,5280,4,162],"class_list":{"0":"post-551182","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-minnesota-wild","8":"tag-dallas-stars","9":"tag-hockey","10":"tag-minnesota","11":"tag-minnesota-wild","12":"tag-minnesotawild","13":"tag-nhl","14":"tag-wild"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116392305874227985","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551182","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=551182"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551182\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/551183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=551182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=551182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=551182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}