Wild dominate Stars 6-1 to roll to Game 1 victory

Sarah McLellan, The Minnesota Star Tribune on Apr 18, 2026

Published in Hockey

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The Minnesota Wild have been hyped as a Stanley Cup contender for most of their season, and their arrival to the playoffs showed why.

They creamed the Stars 6-1 in Game 1 on Saturday at American Airlines Center to snatch home-ice advantage away from Dallas in the best-of-seven series.

Game 2 is at 9:30 p.m. ET Monday.

Kirill Kaprizov scored 56 seconds into the second period to kick off a three-goal blitz that stunned the Stars, and rookie goaltender Jesper Wallstedt rewarded the Wild’s decision to go with him over the more experienced Filip Gustavsson by stopping all but one of the 27 shots he faced to win his playoff debut.

Ryan Hartman and Matt Boldy (twice) also capitalized for the Wild, who led 1-0 in the first period on the first of two Joel Eriksson Ek power play goals. Mats Zuccarello had three assists, while Quinn Hughes and Brock Faber had one apiece — the Wild’s stars outshining Dallas’.

The Wild’s best players rested in the lead-up to the postseason, including Hughes, who was dealing with an illness and traveled to Dallas separately from the Wild.

But they reunited seamlessly, like on the power play where the puck moved from Kaprizov to Hughes to Zuccarello to Boldy before Eriksson Ek one-timed in the first goal just 5:35 into the first period.

That tidy start snowballed into a Wild takeover to begin the second: Kaprizov snuck a shot under the crossbar then 2:32 later, Hartman deflected in a Faber shot. Boldy capped off the surge at 6:30 with a tap-in, giving the Wild three goals in a breezy 5:34; that’s the fastest three goals in a Wild playoff game since Game 3 vs. Winnipeg in 2018.

Dallas didn’t respond until 4:50 remained in the second, when Jason Robertson lifted in a backhander on the power play, but the Wild penalty kill was perfect in the third period to go 3 for 4 overall. The power play improved to 2 for 4 after Eriksson Ek netted his second on a bad break for the Stars, who were penalized for tripping when it was Danila Yurov who knocked down Yakov Trenin.

Jake Oettinger made 23 saves for the Stars.

Kaprizov picked up two assists to finish with three points, as did Boldy, and Kaprizov’s 16 career goals in the playoffs are tied with Zach Parise for the most in Wild history.

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