Wild take Game 1 against Stars in double overtime thriller

Ryan Hartman scored the winning goal after 91 minutes, 40 seconds of game time.
Wild take Game 1 against Stars in double overtime thriller
Wild take Game 1 against Stars in double overtime thriller /

Ryan Hartman's goal at 1:01 a.m. Central Time gave the Minnesota Wild a 3-2 double overtime victory over the Dallas Stars in Game 1 of their best-of-seven playoff series. 

Hartman gobbled up a loose puck in front of net and beat Dallas goalie Jake Oettinger for the winner 12 minutes, 20 seconds into the second overtime. Oettinger, a Lakeville, Minnesota native, was otherwise spectacular in what developed into a thrilling game. 

Filip Gustavsson, making his first career start in the playoffs, finished with 52 saves. The only goals he allowed were on Dallas power plays in the second period. Oettinger made 45 saves, including multiple game-savers in overtime. 

It goes down as the longest playoff game in Wild history. The opening puck dropped at 8:50 p.m. CT Monday and ended at 1:01 a.m. CT Tuesday. 

Minnesota drew first blood when Jared Spurgeon's shot was tipped by Kirill Kaprizov into the back of the net over Lakeville native Jake Oettinger's right shoulder. 

Dallas responded quickly in the second period, tying the game 1-1 on Roope Hintz's power play goal just three seconds into a power play after a boarding call on Minnesota's Ryan Hartman. 

Just over two minutes later Jason Robertson fired a low shot past Wild goalie Filip Gustavsson for a 2-1 Dallas lead. That goal came just six seconds into a power play after Wild forward Marcus Foligno was called for slashing. 

The Wild tied the game 2-2 with 5:35 left in the second when Sam Steel blocked a shot and exploded down the center of the ice before beating Oettinger up high. 

While the entire game was physical, there was one hit that has the Stars on edge because it sent Joe Pavelski to the locker room and out of the game. The 38-year-old was motionless on the ice for a moment before he was eventually helped off the ice. 

Dumba was hit with a two-minute minor penalty for roughing but the Stars didn't get a power play because Max Domi attacked Dumba immediately after the hit and was also penalized. 

Gustavsson, making his first career start in the playoffs, finished with __ saves. He earned the No. 1 goalie job over Marc-Andre Fleury after a stellar regular season in which he posted a 22-9-7 record with a 2.10 goals-against average and .931 save percentage, both ranking second in the NHL. 

Up next: Game 2 is Wednesday in Dallas with puck drop at 8:30 p.m. CT.


Published
Joe Nelson
JOE NELSON

Title: Bring Me The Sports co-owner, editor Email: joe@bringmethenews.com Twitter: @JoeBMTN Education: Southwest Minnesota State University Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota Expertise: All things Minnesota sports Nelson has covered Minnesota sports for two decades, starting his media career in sports radio. He worked at small market Minnesota stations in Marshall and St. Cloud before joining one of the nation's highest-rated sports stations, KFAN-FM 100.3 in the Twin Cities. There, he was the producer of the top-rated mid-morning sports show with Minnesota Vikings announcer Paul Allen.  His radio experience helped blossom a career as a sports writer, joining Minneapolis-based Bring Me The News in 2011.  Nelson and Adam Uren became co-owners of Bring Me The News in 2018 and have since more than tripled the site's traffic and launched Bring Me The Sports in cooperation with the Sports Illustrated/FanNation umbrella. Nelson has covered the Super Bowl and numerous training camps, NFL combines, the MLB All-Star Game and Minnesota playoff games, in addition to the day-to-day happenings on and off the field of play.  Nelson also has extensive knowledge of non-sports subjects, including news and weather. He works closely with Bring Me The News meteorologist Sven Sundgaard to produce a bevy of weather and climate information for Minnesota readers.  Nelson helped launch and manage the Bring Me The News Radio Network, which provided more than 50 radio stations around Minnesota with daily news, sports and weather reports from 2011-17.