Wild defeat Stars 3-2, ending longest game in team history on Ryan Hartman's goal

DALLAS — For months the Wild have been rehearsing how to play in the playoffs, honing their style to withstand the tight checking, hard-hitting and mood swings of the postseason.

When it was finally showtime, they delivered their lines word for word.

Relying on their now patented cool-under-pressure temperament, the Wild overcame a shaky spurt and tense turn of events to outlast the Stars 3-2 in double overtime at American Airlines Center and secure a 1-0 lead in the first-round, best-of-seven series. The winning goal, capping the longest game in Wild history, came at precisely 1 a.m. — and after 92 minutes, 20 seconds of play.

Game 2 is set for an 8:30 p.m. Wednesday start.

"We're happy the way that we held our composure and all that good stuff that everybody talks about in the playoffs," coach Dean Evason said. "We did it tonight. We gotta do it again."

Ryan Hartman finally ended the stalemate with 7 minutes, 40 seconds left in the second overtime, scooping up a botched clearing attempt by Dallas that bounced off Sam Steel's skate and flinging the puck behind Stars goalie Jake Oettinger to wrap up the Wild's longest game ever at 92:20.

"We expect a good battle," said Hartman, who became the 10th Wild player to score in overtime during the playoffs. "We're happy with obviously getting the first one but can't sit and think about the win too much. We have a game to play on Wednesday, and we need to get another win."

This was only the Wild's fourth Game 1 victory in 16 series. All four have been on the road.

Filip Gustavsson stopped 51 shots to set a franchise record for most saves in a playoff game in the first postseason appearance of his NHL career. A whopping 27 saves came in the two extra periods compared to just 12 for Oettinger, who finished with 45 stops.

Gustavsson became the fifth NHL netminder to record 51-plus saves in his playoff debut.

"He's pretty good, right?" Evason said. "Their goalie was fantastic. Our goalie was fantastic."

Although the stakes were different, the Wild looked like they did throughout the regular season, especially early.

They established their game, working out of jams, getting up ice with crisp passes and being opportunistic. That's how they capitalized first, an impressive stick deflection by Kirill Kaprizov on the power play with 48 seconds left in the first period for his 10th goal in 14 career playoff appearances. His 0.71 goals-per-game average in the playoffs is tops among all active skaters.

"It felt like we were ready to play right away," Gustavsson said.

But Dallas and its fifth-best power play were much more efficient.

With Hartman serving a boarding minor, the Stars needed just three seconds to score, a wrister from Roope Hintz off a Dallas faceoff win only 2:08 into the second. Then on a slashing call against Marcus Foligno, the Stars were a little slower in their execution but just as effective: Jason Robertson's shot sailed by Gustavsson only six seconds into the advantage. (Oh, besides having an elite power play, Dallas led the NHL in faceoff win percentage.)

"We just stick with it," Steel said. "There's wasn't any doubt in our penalty kill and our system. You don't want to call them lucky. They're nice plays, nice shots by those guys, but we know what we can do. We've done it all year and we just stuck with it."

Despite blowing their lead in a breezy 2:05, the Wild didn't get frazzled.

Instead, they held on to it through a testy finish to the period.

Matt Dumba leveled a shoulder-to-shoulder check to Dallas' Joe Pavelski, who hit his head on the ice on the way down and left the game. The play was initially deemed a major penalty but during the ensuing review, the call was reversed. Max Domi fought Dumba after the hit, and the two were sent to the penalty box with roughing minors with Domi also getting tagged with a 10-minute misconduct.

"To be honest, 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."

After the game, Stars coach Pete DeBoer said Pavelski is "OK," but DeBoer said he wasn't confident Pavelski returns for Game 2.

Once the action reset to 5-on-5, Gus Nyquist sprung Steel for a breakaway that Steel deposited behind Oettinger with 5:35 to go in the second to become the seventh player in Wild history to score in his playoffs debut.

"You want to contribute, for sure, when you get the chance to be in a playoff game," said Steel, who picked up an assist on the game-winning goal. "Great pass from Gus and just tried to beat the back pressure and try to put something upstairs."

The Stars came close to retaliating in the third.

They hit the post not long after Gustavsson made a sharp kick save vs. Hintz, but Jonas Brodin put on a defensive clinic. First, he swiped the puck off Jamie Benn while sprawled on the ice and Brodin followed that up with a clutch shot block on the penalty kill.

That set up overtime, the ultimate make-or-break test, and the Wild remained unbothered.

After gutting out a nail-biter of a penalty kill during the first extra session, which included Jon Merrill getting a piece of the puck with his stick then skate while Gustavsson was sprawled, they had to weather shorthanded situation in just their second double overtime ever.

Overall, the Stars went 2-for-5 and the Wild 1-for-4.

Barely a minute after that last penalty kill, the Wild spilled onto the ice to celebrate Hartman's goal, their marathon effort surpassing Game 1 of the 2003 conference finals vs. Anaheim (88:06) for the longest game title.

"The boys were focused," said Dumba, whose 38:31 ice time established a franchise record. "The boys were just taking it one shift at a time and staying in the now. Yeah, it was awesome to see."