The Dallas Stars were one shot away from locking up a stranglehold on their first-round series, then watched it all vanish in the span of a single redirection. With under 30 seconds left in the first overtime, Matt Boldy got his stick on a Jared Spurgeon point shot and tipped home the winner, handing the Minnesota Wild a 3-2 victory in Game 4 in St. Paul and knotting the series at 2-2. Jake Oettinger turned in another gutsy playoff performance to drag Dallas into extra time, but Minnesota had the better push when it mattered most.
According to NHL, Boldy’s deflection crossed the line with 29 seconds left in the first overtime and capped a 43-save night for Jesper Wallstedt. Oettinger answered with 40 stops on 43 shots, including several highlight-reel denials to extend the game. An earlier apparent Wild goal in overtime was wiped out for a kicking motion, but Minnesota controlled long stretches of the extra period before finally cashing in.
Stars' power play keeps them in it
The Stars’ power play once again looked like their most reliable weapon. Jason Robertson opened the scoring with an early man-advantage snap shot, and Miro Heiskanen ripped home a second-period power-play snipe as Dallas went a perfect 2-for-2 on the night. As reported by The Dallas Morning News, the Stars now have eight power-play goals through four games, a big reason they are still even in the series despite dropping this one on the road.
Lundkvist exits after skate incident; goalies steal the night
On the back end, Dallas had to scramble after defenseman Nils Lundkvist left in the second period when he was clipped in the facial area by a skate and did not return, forcing the Stars to gut out long stretches with only five defensemen, according to CBS Sports. The reduced blue-line rotation only highlighted how sharp the goalies were at both ends. Oettinger’s 40 saves featured multiple sprawling stops, including 11 in overtime alone, while Wallstedt turned aside 43 of 45 shots to secure the win, per NHL.
Everything comes down to Game 5 at the AAC
Now the series shifts back to Dallas with everything deadlocked. Game 5 is set for Tuesday at 7 p.m. local time at American Airlines Center, where the Stars will try to turn home ice into a real edge. As The Dallas Morning News notes, teams that grab a 3-2 series lead go on to win nearly 80 percent of the time, making Tuesday night a genuine gut-check for Dallas at five-on-five.
If the Stars can finally unlock some consistent five-on-five scoring to go with a power play that has been borderline automatic, the American Airlines Center should be rocking, and the math will tilt in their favor. If not, Minnesota has already shown it can grind out tight playoff games, wait for mistakes, and turn even the slightest slip into a series-altering moment.
