DALLAS — If Game 1 is any indication, a soundtrack of boos could play every time Matt Dumba handles the puck in the rest of the Wild's first-round series in Dallas.
Matt Dumba ready to be the bad guy when Wild and Stars meet in Game 2
After delivering a hard hit to Dallas' Joe Pavelski in Game 1, the Wild defenseman embraced the crowd's reaction and stood up to physical play by the Stars.
April 19, 2023 at 11:22AM
"Love it," Dumba said.
That was the reaction Dumba received inside American Airlines Center after his shoulder-to-shoulder hit on the Stars' Joe Pavelski in the second period of the Wild's marathon, double-overtime 3-2 win on Tuesday (nee Monday).
"Make a hit like that and you've got to stay locked in, got to keep the head on a swivel," Dumba said. "Guys are coming. That just played into exactly what I wanted to do, just move pucks quick and let our forwards go to work."
Pavelski didn't play after the check, the Stars veteran hitting his head on the ice as he went down.
Stars coach Pete DeBoer said after the game Pavelski was "OK," but DeBoer wasn't confident Pavelski would suit up for Game 2 on Wednesday.
Dumba was whistled for a major penalty at first, but video review dismissed it. He did, however, stay in the penalty box because Dumba and Dallas' Max Domi, who went after Dumba, were assessed roughing penalties. Domi was also given a 10-minute misconduct.
"I thought it was a clean hit," Dumba said. "I figured they were going to see the same, shoulder on shoulder. I don't even know why I got the roughing. It was probably just because I was in the box already."
Not only did Dumba get vocal feedback from the crowd, he also took hits from the Stars.
Neither rattled him, the defenseman turning in a rock-solid performance that included logging 38 minutes, 31 seconds of action (a franchise playoff record) to help the Wild limit Dallas to a pair of power-play goals.
"He's simplified everything in his game," coach Dean Evason said. "He hasn't made anything complicated. He's just making simple passes. He's competing. His stick is real good. He's boxing out. He's playing a physical hard game but staying disciplined.
"He knows he has to play that way to have success."
Fueling up
Intermissions on Monday night/early Tuesday inside the Wild locker room looked like snack time.
Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, bananas, "maybe even like a 12:30 Red Bull," Ryan Hartman said, were on hand.
This was only the Wild's second double-OT game ever, the 92-minute, 20-second duration eclipsing the 88:06 finish in Game 1 of the conference finals vs. Anaheim in 2003 as the team's longest game on record.
"Our trainers are on it, as I'm sure their guys are," Evason said. "Just trying to get them the nutrition and hydration in those situations to keep them going to play at the high level that both teams did for that long."
Injury update
John Klingberg skated Tuesday after missing Game 1 with a lower-body issue.
Joel Eriksson Ek, who hasn't played since getting hit with a shot and suffering a lower-body injury on April 6 at Pittsburgh, didn't get on the ice after skating Saturday, Sunday and Monday.
"He's come out of it really well," Evason said. "We're just going to evaluate every day and see where he's at, see where his recovery's at. Hopefully we make a decision for him to play sooner rather than later."
St. Louis Blues forward Dylan Holloway was back at the team’s practice facility Wednesday and appeared to escape serious injury a day after being struck in the neck by a puck and leaving the ice on a stretcher against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
