From wedding invites to playoff foes, Wild's John Klingberg knows Stars

The bond John Klingberg created with his teammates when he was with the Stars is a lifelong friendship.

A bunch of them were at his wedding, and Klingberg was even texting with them before the playoffs began.

"But we also said we'll chat in two weeks," he said.

After years of playing together, Klingberg is now the opposition as one of the Wild's newest defensemen, bringing with him the experience he gained from those eight seasons in Dallas.

"Playoffs is more fun," Klingberg said. "It's more exciting, and it gets the best out of players."

An onlooker for the first two games of the best-of-seven because of a lower-body injury, Klingberg made his Wild playoffs debut in Game 3 and integrated seamlessly back into the lineup.

He assisted on two goals, both by Mats Zuccarello, and finished a plus-3 while working alongside rookie Brock Faber during the 5-1 victory on Friday night.

Klingberg followed that with a goal and an assist in Sunday's 3-2 loss in Game 4.

"For how big he is [6-3, 190 pounds], he has some of the best feet I've ever seen," Faber said. "He's so smooth and silky. He helped me a ton. He communicates well. It was pretty easy getting to play with him."

This type of impact in the postseason is nothing new for Klingberg.

Of the seven goals he scored in the playoffs with the Stars, four were game-winners, including an overtime series-clincher in 2019 vs. Nashville.

"You really want to be out there and be a difference-maker," said Klingberg, who signed with Anaheim last offseason before the Wild traded for him on March 3. "But I feel like if I just try to play a simple game and let the game come to me, a lot of times that's when good stuff [is] happening instead of trying to chase it and I think in the playoffs that's really kind of how it is."

Filip Gustavsson remained in net Sunday after an economical 23 saves in Game 3.

"It was almost too quiet at some times," Gustavsson said. "I was almost just standing back there. Felt like they almost just dumped the puck in sometimes.

"We did a really good job with keeping them on the outside. I don't know how many high-danger shots they had. They can't have had that many. That was good."

Gustavsson became the first goaltender in Wild history to win each of his first two playoff appearances after also outlasting the Stars in double overtime in the series opener, but the Wild didn't go back to Gustavsson in Game 2; Marc-Andre Fleury got the start that night.

"They kind of talked about it before we even went to the playoffs that we were going to rotate," Gustavsson said. "I didn't care too much. I did a good game in Game 1. I knew I was going to get the opportunity once again.

"We have a great goalie pair, me and Fleury. I don't think it matters who plays. I think the team's going to have success no matter what."

Coach Dean Evason described the Game 3 crowd inside Xcel Energy Center as "off the charts."

The atmosphere was quite different than the last time Marcus Johansson was in the playoffs with the Wild: Back in 2021, the attendance was 4,500 because of the pandemic.

"This crowd is amazing and very loud building," Johansson said. "So, right from the start when you come out there, it's extremely loud. It's a lot of fun, and the crowd is into it."

Asked for an update on Joel Eriksson Ek, Evason said the center wasn't available to the Wild for Game 4.

Eriksson Ek left Game 3 after playing just 19 seconds, his first action since suffering a lower-body injury from blocking a shot on April 6.

Sam Steel, who was scratched for Game 3 when Eriksson Ek and Ryan Hartman returned, was back in the lineup; he centered Johansson and Matt Boldy.