- Matt Boldy tipped a Jared Spurgeon point shot past Jake Oettinger with 29 seconds left in overtime to give Minnesota a 3-2 win
- Jesper Wallstedt stopped 43 of 45 shots and outdueled Oettinger to send the series back to Dallas tied 2-2
- Read below for full details on the Wild’s Game 4 comeback and how the series shifts heading into Game 5
Matt Boldy needed two tries. The Wild only needed one to count.
Boldy tipped a Jared Spurgeon point shot past Jake Oettinger with 29 seconds left in overtime to give Minnesota a 3-2 win over Dallas in Game 4 at Grand Casino Arena on Saturday. The result evens the Western Conference First Round at 2-2 and ships the series back to American Airlines Center.
Spurgeon ripped the puck from the point. Boldy redirected it at the left post, and that one stuck. He thought he had it earlier, too. With 5:24 left in the extra frame, an earlier Boldy bid was waved off for a kicking motion.
Jesper Wallstedt was the story before any of that.
The rookie made 43 saves, kept Minnesota in a game where Dallas controlled long stretches, and gave his team a chance late. Oettinger was every bit as good at the other end with 40 stops of his own.
The Stars opened the scoring early. Jason Robertson buried a power-play snap shot from the bottom of the left circle at 5:35 of the first off a Matt Duchene feed. Brock Faber answered later in the period with a point shot that deflected off Miro Heiskanen’s leg in the slot and past Oettinger at 13:52.
Heiskanen put Dallas back in front with a power-play wrist shot from the top of the left circle at 19:25 of the second period. The Wild also had a tying goal waved off late in the frame after the referee ruled Joel Eriksson Ek pushed Heiskanen into Oettinger.
Marcus Foligno dragged Minnesota back to even at 14:40 of the third. The Moose fell over Oettinger at the left post, controlled his own rebound, and shoveled it home.
Special teams told a one-sided story. Dallas went 2-for-2 on the power play. Minnesota went 0-for-4 with three shots on goal.
The Stars also had to play half the game on five defensemen. Nils Lundkvist took a skate to the face from Michael McCarron after tripping the Wild forward at 13:15 of the second and didn’t return.
Here’s the full video of Game 4 highlights:
Game 5 is Tuesday in Dallas at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN2. The series is now best-of-three with home ice favoring the Stars. Minnesota is also still without Mats Zuccarello, who has missed the series with an upper-body injury, while Kirill Kaprizov tacked on two more assists to keep his fingerprints all over the Wild offense. Full recap is available on NHL.com.
