Luck Favours The Prepared

By now, everyone has heard the comments made by various Winnipeg Jets as they cleaned out their lockers, and it seemed like there general consensus that the Jets have to get younger and faster. Whether that happens will be seen in the future, but there was a good display of how old and slow plays against younger and faster tonight as the Minnesota Wild opened their series against the Dallas Stars by punching them square in the mouth via their 6-1 win. This game was over before the halfway point with Minnesota building a 4-0 lead, but what surprised me was how the Wild made the Stars look much slower on the ice comparatively.

In short, Dallas could be in real trouble in this series.

Of course, it's just one game and this series isn't anywhere close to being over, but the Minnesota Wild looked like they had been shot of a cannon comparably to Dallas. It's said that teams have to be good to lucky, and we saw Minnesota get a couple of goals in that fashion that had the Stars reeling. If the hockey gods were smiling on Minnesota today, it's likely because they won a ton of puck battles, they were first to a lot of loose pucks, and they kept Dallas on their heels with their forecheck and speed. This wasn't lost on the Stars.

"First 30 minutes, we didn't win enough battles," Dallas Stars forward Mikko Rantanen told Taylor Baird of NHL.com. "They were just that little bit stronger in the battles and that's why they were able to make us defend more than we want to. Just got to be stronger."

Dallas head coach Glen Gulutzan also made mention of losing battles.

"When you're not winning anything and you're not winning your races, you're not winning your 50-50s, you put yourself at risk for what happened," Gulutzan explained to the gathered reporters in the postgame press conference. "Deflections, a shot from the half-wall that goes off a guy and goes in, one from behind the net. Because you're in vulnerable spots because you're not winning battles. Like I said, to a man I think we can all be better in that area."

Stars defenceman Miro Heiskanen tried to sum up what needs to happen in Game Two, saying, "Have to play a little harder, close the gaps a little quicker, and not give them that much time. I think those are the keys. It's a long series."

On the other side, Minnesota Wild head coach Jon Hynes spoke of his team's preparation as a key leading into this first playoff game.

"We prepped for a couple days coming into this one," Hynes said of his team after their Game One win. "Now, we will gather information from this game and continue to move forward. For me, it’s game to game and day to day. We want to continue to get better. We won and they lost. It's not so much being satisfied where you're at or that's what it is. We need to continue to find ways to get better."

If there are things that don't need to be improved in any major way, Minnesota's transition defence was on display for sixty minutes as they continually caused Dallas headaches. When Dallas came down the ice, there was zero room to manoeuver, resulting in turnovers and Dallas having to retreat. Speed, positioning, and understanding the assignment gave Dallas fits in getting down the ice today.

Minnesota moved the puck very well in all three zones, and they rarely struggled to find space on the ice. Dallas missed assignments, Dallas missed both stick- and bodychecks, and Dallas chased the puck far too often. How does Joel Eriksson Ek stand so open on the power-play in the middle of the slot twice, resulting in two goals? How does Kirill Kaprizov not get pasted into the boards every time he touches the puck? Dallas has to mind the details to win in this series!

Dallas will get set for Monday night's Game Two by focusing on the details that they clearly ignored today. I expect the Stars to finish checks, drive the Minnesota net more, and pay attention to defensive assignments. On the flip side, though, Minnesota will take today's game as the first step they need to get to the second round, continue to play at a high level, and focus on making Dallas's trip to St. Paul less fun by taking both games in Dallas. Game Two should be intense!

Like the St. Louis-Winnipeg series last year, whoever wins this series may come out worse for wear based on the bumps and bruises they'll sport. Minnesota is 25% of the way there with their big win tonight, but they still need three more against a team that has played in the Western Conference Final in the last two seasons. Expect a tougher Dallas team to clock-in on Monday for Game Two of this series!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!