13th placed Minnesota Wild eliminates Dallas Stars from entering the playoffs –NHL Update
Chicago lost its match before Dallas Stars which enabled Dallas to grab the eighth position, but luck was not on its side as Minnesota Wild eliminated it by 5-3 at the Xcel Energy Centre in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
Sunday night was wild as the two teams faced off against different opponents with their last hopes of making it to the playoffs, but only one could emerge victorious and grab that precious last spot.
Chicago Blackhawks has officially secured its postseason seat and a chance to defend its Stanley Cup title after securing 97 points, two more than Dallas Stars.
Dallas’s coach, Marc Crawford, described the mood of the team as euphoric and ecstatic after witnessing Chicago’s loss, but it was totally the opposite when players were on their way back to the locker rooms.
Stars had a 2-1 lead entering the second period after Minnesota’s first goal by Brad Staubitz had reduced the lead. Brad Richards and Brenden Morrow scored to raise Dallas above Wild, earlier in the first period.
It was exactly a differing situation in the second period as Jared Spurgeon tied up the match on a power-play opportunity and Colton Gillies made the tie-breaker with his first goal of the season, a little over midway through the second period.
Stars was given a brilliant 5-on-2 man opportunity in the final three minutes when Colton Gillies and Greg Zanon were penalized 20 seconds apart.
Alex Goligoski who assisted the tie-breaker in the first, levelled the match with 1:43 remaining on the clock.
"It was in our control, and we didn't win", said Dallas’ centre, Brad Richards, with a depressing tone. He added, "We put too much pressure on ourselves to be perfect at the end, with no room for error".
The away team had nearly tripled the shots on goal in the final period, compared to the second but were unable to capitalise on any of them.
Antti Miettinen raised the bar even further and Pierre-Marc Bouchard scored the final with 13 seconds remaining to lock the match in Minnesota’s favour.
The 18,000 plus crowd could not have been more excited, shouting “Go Wild Go!” while exiting the arena. It made them forget the whole season in which Minnesota remained in a slump form throughout.
"It leaves you with a bitter taste, winning a game like this", Wild’s coach, Todd Richards, said. "It sure would be great to play 15 or 20 more like that".
Both teams might not be entering the playoffs, but it probably is not a good time for them to be there anyways. They should work on improving themselves as a team overall instead of focusing on making shortcuts.
Tags: