That was ugly from the start, and when I say the start, I mean the decision to start Marc-Andre Fleury.

Dean Evason had to answer that question from the media, and his response was "that was what we did all year." Well that is the regular season, this is the playoffs. What we thought we saw in game one, lessons learned from past years. The decision to play this like it is a continuation of the regular season, makes us wonder.

In Fleury's defense the Wild did not play well in front of him but after the Wild got back into the game at 4-3, he was unable to make a big save and and the Stars built the three goal lead right back.

The Stars made adjustments and they showed their dominance in the 7-3 victory. Now it's thw Wild's turn to do the same as the series shifts to St. Paul.

Dallas' big guns have got it going, thay will be a challenge for the Wild to slow them down. At the same time the Wild top guns have to Rev up their game especially the performance of Mats Zuccarello. Zuccarello is typically a key playoff performer and he will pick it up as thisbseries moves forward.

Discipline is going to be key for the Wild, they need to play their game and maintain the structure. That was obviously missing and the game got out of control very quickly. Unfortunately that seems to happen too often for thw Wild in the playoffs.

In the four playoff series the Wild have played under Dean Evason, the team has dropped 12 of 19. The more alarming fact is that of those 12 losses, there are only two that were by one goal margins. Those two one goal Wild losses occurred back in 2020 vs. Vancouver, in the bubble, while Evason still held the interim head coach tag.

Is that a lack of preparation or focus?

If the Wild are to take the next step they need to be able to maintain the game plan when they fall behind by multiple goals. They showed they can come back tonight, but the discipline was lost once they started chasing the game.

The series is on and it will be fun to see the XCEL Energy Center packed to the rafters with the Wild faithful Friday night.

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