The Minnesota Wild got on the board after five scoreless periods, but a fluke goal and a Jamie Benn breakaway were enough for the Dallas Stars to hold serve at home in a 2-1 win to take a 2-0 series lead back to St. Paul. Game 3 is Monday night.
Jamie Benn had the game-winning goal midway through the third period. After Minnesota’s Nate Prosser had a shot blocked, Cody Eakin fired an outlet pass of the boards to Benn, who slipped behind the Minnesota defense. Coming down the left wing, the Stars’ captain slipped a backhand under the pads of Devan Dubnyk to give Dallas a 2-0 lead.
Despite Dallas having a 14-7 edge in shots on goal in the first period, the game was scoreless until the Stars scored a fluke goal to take a 1-0 lead.
The puck hit Antoine Roussel’s skate behind the goal, knocking it up over the top of the net and onto Dubnyk’s back. The net lifted off the ice as the Dubnyk stood up but the league ruled it a good goal. According to the league’s ruling:
“At 3:54 of the second period in the Wild/Stars game, the Situation Room initiated a video review to further examine a play at the Minnesota net. Video review determined that the puck crossed the Minnesota goal line in a legal fashion prior to the net being displaced. According to Rule 78.4 “The goal frame shall be considered in its proper position when at least a portion of the flexible peg(s) are still inside both the goal post and the hole in the ice”. Good goal Dallas.”
The Wild a late push, and finally got on the board in the series when Marco Scandella scored from Matt Dumba and Jason Zucker on the power play with 7:18 left in the game.
The Wild’s late-season slide has continued into the post-season; the Wild have dropped their last seven outings, scoring only seven goals in those games — including two shutouts.
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