Roope Hintz on Friday got Dallas going early, while Jake Oettinger stonewalled his home-state team again as the Stars eliminated the Minnesota Wild 4-1 in Game 6 of their first-round NHL playoff series.
Oettinger had the privilege of playing in front of his family and the thrill of backstopping the Stars to a clinching win in his native Minnesota.
Ryan Suter had the satisfaction of beating his former team, who bought out his contract two years ago.
Photo: AP
The Stars had all kinds of reasons to cherish this victory, including a little extra rest.
“I think the guys knew how important it was for both of us and everyone really stepped up and competed hard for us,” Suter said.
Wyatt Johnston and Mason Marchment scored in the second period, when a burst by the Stars — swooping in for the finish — outshot the Wild 18-5.
Max Domi had an empty-netter in the final minute.
Oettinger made 22 saves for the Stars, who advanced to face the winner of the Colorado Avalanche-Seattle Kraken series.
The Avalanche earlier beat the Kraken to force a deciding Game 7.
Oettinger was bidding for his second shutout of the series before Freddy Gaudreau scored for the Wild with 7 minutes, 7 seconds remaining.
“He’s our brick wall back there and we trust him. Any time we make mistakes, he’s there for us,” Marchment said. “We wouldn’t be here without him.”
Filip Gustavsson, starting a fourth consecutive game for the first time in his first season with Minnesota, stopped 23 shots in two periods.
Marc-Andre Fleury took over in the third period.
With center Joe Pavelski expected back for the next round after missing the past five games with a concussion, the Stars are poised to make another push for the Stanley Cup Finals they reached in 2020.
In Sunrise, Florida, Matthew Tkachuk scored the first of three unanswered goals as the Panthers erased a third-period deficit and downed the visiting Boston Bruins 7-5 in Game 6 of their Eastern Conference series.
Florida leveled the best-of-seven series against the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Bruins at three wins apiece.
Boston’s Tyler Bertuzzi and David Pastrnak each scored their second goal of the game to give the Bruins a 4-3 lead by the 3 minute, 53 second mark of the third period.
Florida then scored four of the next five goals.
In Elmont, New York, Paul Stastny scored six minutes into overtime as the Carolina Hurricanes advanced to the Eastern Conference semi-finals with a 2-1 overtime win over the New York Islanders.
Stastny sent an angled shot from the goal line past Ilya Sorokin as the Hurricanes won the first-round series 4-2 and face the winner of the New Jersey Devils-New York Rangers series in the second round.
Additional reporting by Reuters
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