3 Takeaways From the Wild’s 3-2 Overtime Win Over the Stars in Game 4 – The Hockey Writers – Minnesota Wild

The Minnesota Wild hosted the Dallas Stars on Saturday afternoon, Apr. 25, for Game 4 with the Stars up 2-1 in the series. The Wild were once again without two big pieces of their lineup in Mats Zuccarello and Yakov Trenin, which meant Bobby Brink and Nico Sturm were in once again. 

Jesper Wallstedt remained in the net, and the game started out in favor of the Stars early in the first, but the Wild answered later, and the period ended tied 1-1. The Stars struck again late in the second and took a 2-1 lead into the third. The Wild tied it in the latter half of the third and forced overtime, which they won with just 29 seconds left. In this article, we’ll look at a few takeaways, starting with two of their players who continue to shine brightly.

Wild’s Faber & Wallstedt Continue to Shine 

The Wild knew they had a special player in Brock Faber when they traded for him back in 2022, which sent Kevin Fiala to the Los Angeles Kings. He didn’t join the team during the regular season following the trade because he was still at the University of Minnesota, but once his college season ended, he made the jump to the NHL, in the postseason no less, and made quite the impression. 

He played just two games, but his play got the attention of the Wild’s coaching staff. The next season following training camp, he found himself a permanent spot on the Wild’s roster, and he’s been there ever since. Faber has made his presence known for the Wild this postseason with three goals that included one in Game 4 that gave his team a huge momentum boost. 

Apart from Faber, someone else has to be mentioned, and that is goaltender Jesper Wallstedt. Originally, it seemed like Filip Gustavsson was going to be the starter, but at the end of the season, he struggled, and Wallstedt thrived, so the Wild went with the hot hand, and it’s worked out extremely well. He’s been a rock since that first save in Game 1, and he stood tall once again in Game 4 and was a major reason they won the game. 

“I mean, you could tell right away, he has a confidence about him that you obviously need in your goalie. For how young he is, how talented he is and how poised he is in the net, he wants to be on the ice, he wants to be on the ice in the biggest games, that’s what makes him so special and he’s been playing awesome, knowing him, he just can’t wait for the next one,” said Brock Faber to the media in his postgame press conference when asked about the first time he knew Wallstedt was going to be fine in this postseason. 

Wild’s Power Play Continues to Suffer

The Wild have a lot of talent on their power play, but for some reason, they’ve struggled to get it going after their big Game 1 win against the Stars. After that game, they couldn’t seem to get anything going with the man advantage, but the Stars did and got the win. Then, in Game 3, the same storyline unfolded as there were a lot of calls both ways. The Wild converted on one of seven while the Stars scored on three of eight. 

Game 4, the Stars once again scored on their power plays while the Wild struggled to not only get set up on their power plays but to get any shots through. They did find a way to get the win in overtime without their power play, but they can’t do that forever, and they need their power play to get back to what it was in Game 1. 

“Yeah, I think you know what to me, we’ll enjoy the win, guys battled back hard, and we’ll reassess this game and get back at it tomorrow and start preparing again,” said head coach John Hynes to the media in his postgame press conference about what he saw with the power play. 

Wild’s Unlikely Heroes 

The Wild found themselves behind with the time winding down in the third period when the fourth line stepped up big. They’d looked strong for most of the night, especially Nico Sturm, who was all over the ice blocking shots with his body and getting his stick in scoring lanes. He contributed in all sorts of ways, and it was fitting that he assisted in sending the game to overtime. 

Marcus Foligno had a rough start to this series, but in Game 4, he stepped up more than just throwing his weight around. He pushed to the net and was rewarded as Sturm took the initial shot, and Foligno was waiting on the doorstep to reach around Jake Oettinger and knock it in. It was a crazy play that kept his team in the game and rewarded a fourth line that had worked hard all game. The final member of this line, Michael McCarron, didn’t tally an assist on the goal, but like Sturm, he made an impression with good stick work and speed. 

“You have to get production in different ways, and it was great to see those guys go in and get a huge goal for us and I thought Sturmy looked good, he hadn’t played for a while and then he came in, I thought he was pretty good last game, didn’t get a ton of icetime, got some more tonight and he was a factor for sure,” said Hynes to the media in his postgame press conference about the effort of the fourth line.

The Wild will now head south to face the Stars in Dallas for Game 5, which will take place on Tuesday evening, Apr. 28, but with this win, they guarantee they will return home to play Game 6, which will take place on Thursday, Apr. 30, with a time to be announced. Hopefully, the Wild can harness some of this energy and come back home with a big road win.