Wild showcase newfound confidence in blowout win

The Minnesota Wild made one of the biggest statements in the opening weekend of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, leading many to believe this team is a little different than in years past.

The Wild went into Texas on Saturday and looked like the far better team against the Dallas Stars in Game 1 of the Central Division Semifinals. While the final shots were close, Minnesota got to Stars goaltender Jake Oettinger, often, potting five on the young netminder en route to a 6-1 blowout victory.

While there’s still a lot of time left in this best-of-seven, Minnesota set the tone by showing it has almost no fear of going into enemy territory, and the team also accomplished the important task of stealing home-ice advantage from the team that finished with the second-best record in the NHL.

On Monday’s edition of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Tyler Yaremchuk and Carter Hutton explain how confident the Wild looked in their series-opening victory over the Stars.

Carter Hutton: I think that’s probably my most surprising game when I look at what’s gone on here during the playoffs. I think going into this, there was so much pressure on the Dallas Stars and so much in the Central Division and what the Minnesota Wild were going to be. I think the way that they handed it to them in the second period was the biggest surprise for me of this. It was total domination from the Minnesota Wild.

Going into this, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I think [Jesper] Wallstedt getting the start was very important. Other than that, this is like a show of dominance. To go into Dallas and get this done is so important for the confidence for the Minnesota Wild and to set the tone for the series.

Dating back now, that’s [four] straight losses for Jake Oetting in the play, because of the early pull. In the early pull game, he lasted seven minutes. That was a big hot topic when we talked about Pete DeBoer. So, this is a little bit concerning, and I wonder what the leash will be headed into this game here in game two, in the sense of, where do they go from here with the way that that game was just absolutely dominated by the Minnesota Wild?

You can watch the full segment and entire episode here…