DALLAS — It felt like Matt Boldy was looking right through me.
The Minnesota Wild winger had talked after a double-overtime Game 3 home loss about how there was a “narrative” that the team wanted to “nip in the bud.”
So after Sunday’s Game 4 win, I asked Boldy: What did you mean?
“We don’t have a narrative. The narrative is coming from you guys, to be honest,” Boldy said. “We know what we’re capable of — the way we need to play to have success, and the things we need to do.”
Everyone who has a pulse in Minnesota knows the narrative, though. The Wild haven’t gone beyond the first round in a decade, despite an NHL-most eight playoff appearances. From the guys who have been here a decade, like captain Jared Spurgeon, Jonas Brodin and Marcus Foligno, to the newbies like Michael McCarron, they know the history. They own the pain.
But Boldy’s point was: That’s not this group. They’re not frustrated. And this looks like a hungry and determined team ready to blow the roof off Grand Casino Arena for Thursday’s Game 6, with a chance to end this best-of-seven series with the Stars. They look ready to write their own narrative.
“I’d play tomorrow if I could,” Brock Faber said.
And that’s a difference between this year’s Wild team and others in the decorated past. They appear ready to seize the moment, not just meet it. They’ve been hardened by previous playoff scars and learned from them. They’ve gone from bubbly to businesslike, reticent to relentless, tentative to mentally tough. From waiting for someone else to take over to a bunch of alpha dogs that will rip your heart out to snag a loose puck.
Sure, this is the most talented team the Wild have ever assembled in their 25-year history. They have three of arguably the top 20 players in the game: Kirill Kaprizov, Matt Boldy and Quinn Hughes, the mid-December blockbuster acquisition. Brock Faber is playing like a franchise defenseman. Rookie goalie Jesper Wallstedt has been the perfect blend of cocky, confident and calm as their backbone in the playoffs.
But they’re here, up 3-2 on Dallas after Tuesday’s 4-2 win, because of their drive, their play in the dirty areas and their battle level. Their poise. It was hard to tell in the Wild’s 4-2 victory Wednesday which team was coming off three straight Western Conference final berths and which hadn’t sniffed the second round since iPhone 6s were a thing. It starts with the top players — Boldy, Kaprizov, Joel Eriksson Ek, Faber — and rubs off on the others. It’s why they’ve held the Stars to zero five-on-five goals in 207 minutes and 53 seconds. They’re outscoring Dallas 14-3 at five-on-five. For the first time, they have the perfect blend of star power and sandpaper.
“This is why we believe in our group,” Marcus Foligno said. “We feel like it’s in here. We’re playing a heck of a hockey team right now. But we have a lot of lethal weapons and guys that just understand that you throw one guy out and throw another guy out right after that. There was a lot of one-two punch. We have some superstars. And (Hughes) has done an unbelievable job out there.
“Right now, everyone is going over the boards with a purpose and belief we can get the job done.”
You want to know when this group started to feel different? It wasn’t necessarily its response after a season-saving team meeting held by Jared Spurgeon following a woeful October (just four wins in 12 games). It wasn’t just the addition of Hughes, the former Norris Trophy winner and arguably a 1A/1B with Cale Makar for top defenseman on the planet.
It was watching this series — how the Wild dealt with what could have been a death knell, a double overtime gut punch at home in Game 3 when they were given every opportunity to win. It was how, with five minutes left in Game 4, trailing by a goal, their season looking dire, when recent-healthy-scratch Nico Sturm and struggling Marcus Foligno teamed up for the game-tying goal.
It was how their star players have led the way, from Boldy’s big-game ability in his overtime winner in Game 4 to the go-ahead goal in Game 5. It was how Kaprizov, relatively quiet from a goal-scoring standpoint, didn’t just fire a 100-foot prayer into the empty net to seal the game but pushed forward, dragging all-world defenseman Miro Heiskanen with him and using one arm to get the puck into the net.
It was gutsy blocked shots and goal-saving plays by Faber and Spurgeon. It was deadline-addition Michael McCarron, whose second-round pick price tag initially gave fans sticker shock, delivering a couple of big goals and sparking a struggling penalty kill to a few big ones late.
Yes, the Stars still have nine power-play goals (9-for-23), and that’s still an issue going into Game 6. But this could be the start of something. The Wild had two successful kills, one in the second and one in the third. Their power play snapped a 0-for-12 drought.
“When you get one, it’s just confidence,” McCarron said. “When things are not going your way, you’re kind of tentative. You’re letting them come into the zone and letting them make plays they want. It’s hard, man. I don’t know how to explain it. It’s like you’re in a hole and it’s hard to dig yourself out.”
That feels like what the last decade of the franchise has been. There have been wonderful moments, exciting games, and a competitive team that fills the seats with a passionate and patient fanbase. But there’s always been the dreaded “here we go again” kind of moment, from the Eriksson Ek injury in 2024 to the Gustav Nyquist offsides in 2025 in Vegas. There was the failed goalie rotation in 2022 against St. Louis with Cam Talbot and Marc-Andre Fleury.
But this group doesn’t have the same feel. They’re extremely tight, and a couple of the Cup winners in the dressing room (Zach Bogosian and Sturm) like how this team has handled adversity and gotten stronger from it. They have a bunch of characters with character. Like ageless wonder Mats Zuccarello, coming back after missing three games from an elbow in the head, bringing swagger and a goal in Game 5 and playfully telling the group, “You needed me.”
It was Bogosian, clearly playing on one healthy foot, blocking shots and digging in. They might have to play without shutdown left-shot defenseman Jonas Brodin in Game 6. Coach John Hynes provided no update, but he walked out of American Airlines Center on crutches with a walking boot on his right foot.
“We’ve been here. We’ve gotten taken out of the first round a few times,” Faber said. “Going through that multiple times, you start to learn the ins and outs of what playoff hockey means and what it takes. The whole team is still learning every day. We learn from each other and push each other. That’s it. We have a belief in the group and how far we can go and are just trying to take one step at a time. That’s all we can do.”
This sounded like a businesslike team following the Game 5 win. Confident? Yes. But they’re not looking too far ahead. They’re not planning postgame parties for Thursday night. They’re also not afraid of that moment or what it will mean.
“I’ve been here for nine or 10 years,” Foligno said. “You go back to St. Louis (2022). We’re tied 2-2 and you lose in Game 3 and you shy away in Game 4, hoping someone is going to help you. That was uncharacteristic of our group.
“We rely on the Vegas series (in 2025) and how close it was and what could have been. We realized that you’ve just got to throw everything you can at teams to win. You have to go out and win it. You can’t defend it. We’re battle-tested, and we feel good.”
When the team’s youngest player, Wallstedt, 23, is so pumped for Game 6, you know they’re in a good place. It was a gutsy call starting him over veteran Filip Gustavsson in Game 1, but Wallstedt has embodied what’s made this team poised for a franchise-altering victory.
“I don’t think I’ve ever played in that type of magnitude,” Wallstedt said. “Which is exciting. I’m looking forward to it so much.”
The Wild know their fans will deliver on Thursday night. And for the first time in many years, they’ve got a team that’s ready to do the same.
