As the Stars and Wild opened their playoff series Thursday night, everyone in the State of Hockey was worried about the Wild's chances to make it a series with Zach Parise, Thomas Vanek, and Erik Haula all sidelined with injury. The Wild was going to have defend its way to a victory, but ultimately, a couple neutral zone miscues made the score insurmountable.
The Wild from the opening faceoff tried to play a physical brand of hockey, Charlie Coyle made a nice hard hit. Jarret Stoll caught John Klingberg behind the net with a solid check.