MINNEAPOLIS — The Minnesota Wild moved up in the series while playing down a key player.
Despite being shorthanded for all but one shift, the Wild outshined the Dallas Stars 5-1 on Friday at Xcel Energy Center to hold onto home-ice advantage with a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven.
Next up is Game 4 back in St. Paul on Sunday.
Mats Zuccarello scored twice, Marcus Johansson, Marcus Foligno, Ryan Hartman had a goal each, and goaltender Filip Gustavsson pocketed 23 saves in his return to the crease after backstopping the Wild to their double overtime, Game 1 victory.
Gustavsson replacing Marc-Andre Fleury was one of a handful of changes the Wild made after they were routed 7-3 by Dallas in Game 2.
Joel Eriksson Ek, John Klingberg and Hartman all were back from injury, with Eriksson Ek and Klingberg making their first-round debut and Hartman playing after sitting out Game 2, but not everyone stayed in action.
Eriksson Ek exited after just 19 seconds, the first shift of the night after he received a robust ovation when he was announced as part of the Wild's starting lineup. The center had been out with a lower-body injury suffered on April 6 when he blocked a shot.
With Eriksson Ek gone, the Wild had one less player than the Stars but they didn't show it.
Zuccarello backhanded in a puck that deflected right to him with 3 minutes, 15 seconds left in the first period to extend his point streak in the playoffs to three games. The sequence was put in motion by Klingberg, his shot caroming off Hartman to Zuccarello for a thunderous response from the crowd of 19,309.
Just 2:14 into the second period, Johansson tallied his second goal of the series, a highlight-reel toe-drag around Dallas' Colin Miller to set up a blistering shot that landed behind Lakeville's Jake Oettinger (20 saves).
On the very next shift only 11 seconds later, the Stars answered back when Luke Glendening pounced on a loose puck in front of Gustavsson. But that didn't ignite Dallas.
Part of the reason why was the Wild were much cleaner than in Game 2, their decision-making preventing the play from opening up like it did when the Stars' offense took over.
The other factor?
Dallas kept taking penalties, and the Wild capitalized on the power play (1-for-4) to reinstate their two-goal buffer albeit after needing video clarification.
Foligno tipped in a Gus Nyquist shot at 11:24 of the second and although the goal was initially disallowed, the review showed Foligno clipped the puck while his stick was the height of the crossbar for a legal tally.
The assist was Nyquist's fourth of the postseason, and he became the first player in Wild history to pick up a point in each of his first three playoff games with the team. Nyquist, an in-season trade acquisition, has factored into the offense every game he's suited up for the Wild; that's nine points in six appearances, which came after the winger was on the mend for two-plus months to heal up a shoulder injury.
In the third period, the Zuccarello, Hartman and Klingberg combination delivered another goal.
This time, Zuccarello converted off a breakaway with 5:53 left before Hartman sunk a 160-foot empty-netter with 1:50 to go.
Not only was the Wild's power play effective, but their penalty kill had their first perfect showing of the playoffs.
The Wild went 2-for-2 after surrendering five goals to the Dallas power play off 11 chances through the first two games.
