Wild must solve Stars goalie Jake Oettinger to advance in Stanley Cup playoffs

Mats Zuccarello wound up on a 3-on-1 rush, just like Ryan Hartman did during a 2-on-1 look.

Marcus Foligno skated in alone for two whacks at the puck before Kirill Kaprizov also eluded coverage.

And who could forget Marcus Johansson's one-timer in the waning seconds?

"Breakaways and 2-on-1s galore," Foligno said.

The Wild's scoring chances in Game 4 had the makings of a greatest hits album ... but not theirs.

Dallas goaltender Jake Oettinger was the frontman, his 32 saves in the Stars' 3-2 victory on Sunday at Xcel Energy Center the record scratch that reset the best-of-seven series at 2-2 and amplified the Oettinger-vs.-Wild showdown that will pick up on Tuesday with Game 5 back in Texas.

"We just gotta capitalize, get to Oettinger," Foligno said. "He played great. That's it. There's no negativity out of this game besides just burying our chances. It's onto Game 5, and we won in their rink before."

Another victory on the road is now necessary to extend the Wild's season after the Stars reclaimed home-ice advantage with their latest effort, but that's the big picture.

The nitty-gritty is figuring out how to plant more pucks behind Oettinger, the former Lakeville North athlete who continues to hone a reputation as a clutch playoff performer.

Oettinger hasn't been airtight, the Wild tallying at least three goals in all but one game, which is more than the 24-year-old nicknamed "Otter" gave up on average during the regular season. But it's the timeliness of Oettinger's stops that are stymieing the Wild.

"He recognizes the importance of situations," Dallas coach Pete DeBoer said. "I think that's the real sign of an elite goalie. It's not that you're shutting the other team out every night. It's you raise your level at the most important time, and [Game 4] it was in the last minute of the game."

The last minute Sunday was when Oettinger denied Johansson of the tying goal, the netminder sliding across the crease in time to clip Johansson's shot with the heel of his glove.

But that was the icing on the cake.

Before then, Oettinger negated those early odd-man breaks for the Wild and made three blocks on breakaways, the latter a smart anticipation to impede Kaprizov's five-hole attempt.

"You try to see who it is," said Oettinger, whose .941 career save percentage in the playoffs is the best on record for a goalie at age 24 or younger. "It's just so fast, such a split-second thing. Just try to get out there, get some depth. He's obviously a heck of a player, a heck of a shooter. If I just backed my way in, he was going to pick me apart. Luckily, I made that save."

Kaprizov and Matt Boldy have combined for 30 shots in the first round, a quantity that's yielded only one goal (from Kaprizov) after the two finished with 40 and 31, respectively, in the regular season.

Their situation, however, is the same as the Wild's: The lack of production would much more worrisome if they weren't even on the assembly line.

"We would obviously be a little bit more disappointed if they weren't getting those opportunities, but they're getting the opportunities," coach Dean Evason said. "We believe that goal scorers like that will break through."

While the shots off transition are dangerous, what can really fuel the Wild's offensive-zone time is their forecheck and cycle play down low.

That's the type of pressure that can lead to breakdowns and the chaos in the crease that gets goaltenders scrambling. There were some instances of the Wild getting in this groove during Game 4, but it didn't consistently translate into unpredictability in front of Oettinger.

"The more we just get to the net, we'll finish dirty goals," Boldy said. "It sounds cliché, but playing a goalie that that's good, it comes down to just stuff like that. That's our mentality."

What would also help is capitalizing on the power play; the Wild are 4-for-17 through four games.

They did convert once in Game 4, Boldy's shot off the post hitting Frederick Gaudreau for the tap-in with 1 minute, 20 seconds to go, but it was their earlier setups that could have had them ahead instead of lagging behind.

"They're doing a real good job of blocking, getting in lanes," Evason said. "We've got to find a way to get some more pucks to the net with some purpose."

As many what-ifs as Game 4 had, and there were plenty, the Wild don't have to be haunted by them.

That will only be the case if they keep happening.

"He's one of the best goalies in the league," Boldy said of Oettinger. "It's hard to beat those guys. When you get your chances, you've got to take advantage."