Marcus Foligno was ejected for a knee-to-knee hit just two minutes into the game and the Minnesota Wild floundered the rest of the way in a 4-0 loss to the Dallas Stars Tuesday night.
The loss puts Minnesota on the brink of elimination, trailing the Stars 3-2 in the best-of-seven series. Game 6, is Friday night. The Wild have not advanced past the first round of the playoffs since 2015, and if they don’t win Friday the drought will continue. If they do win, Game 7 will be back in Dallas on Sunday.
Foligno went knee-to-knee with Radek Faksa just 2:14 into the first period. The officials reviewed the hit and determined it was a five-minute major and a game misconduct.
Marcus Foligno received a five minute major for this knee-on-knee hit on Radek Faksa#mnwild | #TexasHockey pic.twitter.com/Nz5O7Mydir
— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights & News (@HockeyDaily365) April 26, 2023
On the ensuing five-minute power play, the Stars waited just eight seconds until Tyler Seguin gave Dallas a 1-0 lead. Seguin leads Dallas with four goals, all of them on the power play, this series.
The Wild killed the rest of the major only to have Jake Middleton get called for cross-checking, putting the Stars back on the power play where they again torched Minnesota, this time with Jason Robertson scoring just 17 seconds into the man advantage.
Dallas was 2-for-6 on the power play and they now have seven goals with the man advantage in the series.
With fresh legs entering the second period, Dallas waited just 79 seconds before Mason Marchment beat Wild goalie Filip Gustavsson for a 3-0 lead.
That was more than enough for Jake Oettinger, the Minnesota native who pitched a shutout with 27 saves.
