Minnesota Wild Power Play Scores Twice as Wild Beat the Dallas Stars 4-1

The Minnesota Wild Power Play finally converted and Thomas Vanek got his first as a member of the Wild as Minnesota rolls on to top the Dallas Stars 4-1.

Good morning, Wild fans. We can finally put the panic to rest as the Minnesota Wild power play unit scored for the first and second times. Additionally, Thomas Vanek got his first goal of the regular season to cap off a 4-1 Wild win over the Dallas North Stars. Christian Folin, Erik Haula, and Jonas Brodin re-joined the Wild after various illnesses or injuries. The Wild continued their dominance in puck possession and even strength play, here are my thoughts on the game.

First Period:

I honestly thought the Stars would be a little slower out of the gate than they were. Despite being on a short travel day, the Stars were pretty evenly matched with the Wild through the first frame. The Zach Parise – Mikael Granlund – Jason Pominville pressured Kari Lehtonen early. Lehtonen looked pretty good for a guy who was starting his second game in as many nights. Justin Fontaine had a beautiful takeaway early and I think Folin looked really good for a guy who had some sort of infection that sidelined him for a bit. The top line for the Stars (Tyler Seguin, Jason Spezza, and Jamie Benn) was pretty quiet in the first despite being a pretty electrifying line early on in the season.

Parise had a beautiful takeaway in the 6th minute that created a 3-on-2 which just didn’t quite click as Pominville telegraphed his shot squarely at Lehtonen who didn’t have to work too hard to stop it.

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The Wild penalty kill had to put up with a long shift against a solid Dallas power play unit. Nino Niederreiter took a hooking minor at 14:56 and Nate Prosser took a senseless elbowing minor just 42 seconds later at 15:38. With nearly a minute and a half of 5-on-3, the Wild’s penalty kill unit produced their finest performance of the year, allowing just one shot and generating three takeaways. Brodin had a long shift on the ice and put forth a great effort for a guy playing hurt.

The Wild got their first crack at the power play towards the end of the 18th minute as Dallas defenseman Brenden Dillon tripped Pominville. This power play was more of the same, as the Wild failed to convert on their 28th man advantage of the season. It was a great first period of hockey, but the teams headed to the locker room scoreless. Anybody else feel like that first period just flew by, though?

Darcy Kuemper played tremendously this game and looked completely at home in the crease through the first.

Shots after one: Dallas Stars 8, Minnesota Wild 12

Second Period:

The Wild and Stars entered this game as the two best second period teams in the NHL:

37 seconds of power play time for the Wild to open the second fell flat, although Ryan Suter had a blast that just missed the net.

The Wild opened the scoring with Granlund’s first goal of the year. Jordie Benn sent an errant clearing attempt from the end boards toward center ice. The puck landed squarely in front of Granlund who ripped a wrister home past Lehtonen’s glove from the slot. Parise screened Lehtonen beautifully on this play, although the Dallas netminder felt that he was interfered with. 1-0 Wild at 04:21. No assists for Granny on the play, although Parise deserves a lot of credit.

Later in the second, Charlie Coyle sent the Stars back to the man advantage for slashing  Dillon. Once again, the PK came up huge for the Wild and maintained the 1-0 lead.

Mathew Dumba, who’s been firmly under the microscope for some silly turnovers lately, got his first of the year and we got a closer look at his wicked slap shot. Walking the blue line like a tight rope, Dumba let loose his slap shot after picking up a pass from Pominville. The shot beat Lehtonen cleanly between his blocker and right pad, hugging the goal post as it whizzed by. 2-0 Wild at 13:14. Pominville and Parise earned the assists.

It took only 8 seconds for the Stars to respond, the quickest two goals scored by opposing teams in Xcel Energy Center history. Vernon Fiddler, fresh off beating Mikko Koivu on the face-off dot, blasted a shot past Kuemper’s glove side. Kuemper completely lost his angle here, giving up Dallas’ only goal of the game.

In the waning minutes of the second, Minnesota got their second chance on the power play, as Dallas captain Jamie Benn took a hooking penalty that looked to be almost completely out of frustration.

Thomas Vanek got his first regular season goal as a member of the Minnesota Wild on their first shot of the ensuing power play. With just under a minute left in the period and the man advantage, Vanek picked up a pass from Parise inside the face-off circle and shot it past Lehtonen, elevating the puck to just below the crossbar. It was a beautiful shot and ended the Wild’s power play drought. 3-1 Wild at 19:03. Parise and Koivu earned the assists. More on the Minnesota Wild power play below.

Haula took a hooking minor as time expired in the second, giving the Stars a full two minutes with the man advantage to open the third.

Jason Zucker and Nino Niederreiter had really good second periods for the Wild. Zucker was incredibly speedy up and down the ice, while Niederreiter had really great goal front presence. I can’t count how many times I’d look up to see Niederreiter chipping away at Lehtonen and the puck.

Shots after two: Dallas Stars 14, Minnesota Wild 24

Third Period:

The third period was downright dismal for the visiting Stars, registering no shots, blocked shots, or missed shots with the man advantage and allowing 2 shots by the Wild just after their power play expired.

Jamie Benn took his second penalty of the night at 03:27, and the Wild capitalized again. Once again, it took the Wild until near the end of their man advantage, but Niederreiter’s tip-in closed the door on the Stars. It also assured us that Vanek’s earlier power play goal wasn’t a fluke. 4-1 Wild at 05:03, with Suter and Coyle earning assists on Niederreiter’s 3rd of the year.

The Wild had one more chance on the power play, again thanks to Jamie Benn, a couple minutes later but nothing materialized worth noting here.

It took the Stars 10:29 seconds to register their first shot on goal in the third. Dallas had quite a few attempts in the waning minutes of the third, but only six made it through to Kuemper. The Wild sealed their victory with solid defensive play to keep Dallas’ top line silent through 60 minutes.

Game over, Wild win 4-1. Final shots: Dallas Stars 20, Minnesota Wild 30.

Trembley’s Take:

The Wild  move to 7-3-0 on the season, putting them in 1st place in the heated Central Division. The Wild now rank first among all NHL teams in goals allowed per game and shots allowed per game. Despite a huge uptick in offensive production, the Wild have not sacrificed the defensive principles that got them to the playoffs least season.

I don’t think the power play was a fluke tonight. Sometimes, these things are slow to start and the lines probably need a little more tweaking. Dumba looked really good tonight and played well on the power play. I’ve been able to overlook the Minnesota Wild power play failures thanks to dominant even strength play. If we were 3-7-0, I’d be a lot more concerned. Take a look at Jon’s article for more.

Kuemper had another good game. He’s second in the NHL with a 1.62 GAA. He ranks 10th in the NHL in save percentage at 0.930.

Vanek has 8 points in 10 games (1G-7A.) His goal also means we can talk about something else for a few days. i hear winter is coming to the state of hockey.  The Wild are 29th in the NHL in power play percentage, bypassing Buffalo. Take that, Sabres!

Suter and Marco Scandella are both +9 on the season, ranking 7th and 9th respectively. Only the L.A. Kings have more players in the top ten for plus/minus with three.

I think it was another good win for the Wild. It didn’t require a late rally and they played all 60 minutes without letting off the accelerator.

Colton Sceviour was a beast for Dallas tonight, with an even-strength Corsi-for of 72%. No Wild player was above Ryan Suter’s 64%. See more about advanced stats in Derek’s article.

Zucker earned the NHL’s second star of the game. Although he didn’t plant home a goal, he was all over the ice and looked great. He had an okay even-strength Corsi-for at 48%; however, only 1/3 of his starts were in the offensive zone.

I’m very, very excited to be a Wild fan right now. They have a real test in the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday. Talk to you then. In the mean time, feel free to shoot me a tweet with your questions and I’m happy to answer them. Use the hashtag #TrembleysTake, if you can remember.