The XCEL Energy Center crowd did not disappoint as they roared from the announcement of the opening lineup to the final buzzer
That carried over onto the ice as the Wild stuck to their game and played it to a tee. They came out hard, weathered an early Stars powerplay, and then took it to Dallas the rest of the night.
Some passion was felt from the crowd as they serenaded Ryan Suter with the boos, but the "Suter Sucls" chants were reminiscent of the old North Stars Blackhawks games at the Met Center and the "Secord Sucks" chants of yesteryear.
The major down note of course was the quick exit of Joel Eriksson Ek only 19 seconds into the game. He had made what appeared to be a triumphant return, but not to be and now we will have to wait to see #14 again.
His mates picked up the slack playing a forward short for virtually the entirety of the game, save those opening 19 seconds. Double shifting forwards and juggling the line with Matt Boldy and Marcus Johansson all night.
Boldy and Johansson hooked up for the eventual game winner off a stellar board win by Boldy and great pass to Johansson who made his own lane to the net, turning Colin Miller inside out.
Mats Zuccarello scored the opener and then delivered the dagger in the third period on a breakaway. Zuccy had been taking some heat from the local media with his lack of production on the scoresheet of late, so these two timely goals should go a long way with #36's confidence level.
Matt Boldy in my opinion was the Wild's best player last night in a game that featured many heros, but seemingly every shift Boldy was making something happen with his active stick, no matter what zone he was in.
Brock Faber again looking very poised on the Wild blueline took a big hit from Mason Marchment and came out unscathed. His game has remained simple and his positioning is strong all the way around. He stared the play that resulted in the game's first goal, despite the fact he did not dlget credited with and assist, it was his read and pass that created the opportunity.
Dallas will make their adjustments now and it is up to the Wild to repeat that structured game plan and execute it as well as they did last night, tomorrow afternoon.
Putting back to back efforts together like that in the playoffs is where the Wild have struggled in years past, so tomorrow becomes another big test to see just how far this group has come.
Minnesota Wild Blogger • 
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