With just 29 seconds remaining in overtime, Matt Boldy found the back of the net to propel the Minnesota Wild to a 3-2 victory over the Dallas Stars on Saturday night in St. Paul, evening their Western Conference first-round playoff series at two games apiece.
The Wild received contributions from multiple players, with one unnamed player recording a goal and assist, while Marcus Foligno also found the scoresheet. Goaltender Jesper Wallstedt was outstanding between the pipes, turning away 43 shots to keep Minnesota in the contest. The Wild had started the series strong with a commanding 6-1 victory in the opener before dropping back-to-back contests, including a heartbreaking double-overtime loss in Game 3 on home ice.
For Dallas, Jason Robertson and Miro Heiskanen provided the offense, while Matt Duchene and Mikko Rantanen each contributed two helpers. Stars netminder Jake Oettinger was equally impressive, making 40 stops in the losing effort.
Special teams played a crucial role in the outcome, as Minnesota struggled on the man advantage, failing to convert on all four power-play opportunities. Meanwhile, Dallas capitalized on both of their chances with the extra attacker. The series now shifts back to Dallas for Game 5 on Tuesday evening.
In other NHL playoff action, the Carolina Hurricanes completed a sweep of the Ottawa Senators with a 4-2 victory. Logan Stankoven’s power-play marker in the third period proved to be the difference-maker for Carolina, which never surrendered the lead in eliminating Ottawa from postseason contention. Sebastian Aho added two empty-net tallies, while Taylor Hall contributed a goal and assist. Seth Jarvis recorded two assists and Frederik Andersen made 25 saves for the victorious Hurricanes.
Ottawa received offensive production from Drake Batherson, who had a goal and assist, and Dylan Cozens, who also scored. Linus Ullmark made 26 saves in the losing effort.
Meanwhile, the Pittsburgh Penguins kept their playoff hopes alive with a 4-2 triumph over the Philadelphia Flyers in Game 4 of their Eastern Conference first-round matchup. Sidney Crosby led the way with a goal and assist for the visiting Penguins, who had been outscored 11-4 while falling behind 3-0 in the series.
Rickard Rakell also contributed a goal and assist for Pittsburgh. Penguins coach Dan Muse made the decision to start Arturs Silovs in goal instead of Stuart Skinner, and Silovs delivered with 28 saves in a stellar performance.
Philadelphia got goals from Denver Barkey and Travis Konecny, and will have another opportunity to close out the best-of-seven series when the teams meet for Game 5 in Pittsburgh on Monday. Dan Vladar, playing through a right arm injury, stopped 17 shots for the Flyers.
