The Wild rolled out new line combinations for Game 6 against the Stars.
Kirill Kaprizov and Mats Zuccarello were split up, and so were Matt Boldy and Marcus Johansson.
Zuccarello and Johansson switched spots, with Zuccarello joining Boldy and Frederick Gaudreau and Johansson teaming up with Kaprizov and Ryan Hartman. Neither Hartman nor Zuccarello practiced Thursday, staying off the ice for maintenance, but they suited up Friday night at Xcel Energy Center.
Their five points apiece were tied for the most on the Wild through Game 5, and Zuccarello became only the third player in franchise history to open the playoffs on a four-game point streak.
But their line with Kaprizov hadn't had their usual spark, with Kaprizov carrying a four-game pointless skid into Game 6; that was the longest drought of his NHL career.
Johansson and Boldy also weren't clicking like before.
They were a formidable duo in the regular season after Johansson was brought in before the trade deadline from Washington, but they hadn't combined on a goal since Game 3. Actually, the entire Wild offense sputtered since then to fall behind 3-2 in the best-of-seven series.
After whiffing on breakaways and odd-man rushes in a 3-2 win for Dallas in Game 4, the Wild were blanked 4-0 during Game 5; Lakeville's Jake Oettinger's 27 saves sealed the first shutout of the Stanley Cup playoffs.