By Heather Rule -
The Minnesota Wild lost the hockey game 4-1 to the Dallas Stars.
Unfortunately, they may have lost a lot more than that. Their top defenseman, Ryan Suter, left the game after he went into the end boards awkwardly and had to be helped off the ice by his teammates.
“That’s not what you want to see,” said Wild goaltender Devan Dubnyk. “I don’t have to tell you how important he is for us… fingers crossed it’s not serious.”
The loss snaps the Wild’s seven-game point streak. They’re 4-1-3 in their past eight games.
The biggest concern is the fate of Suter’s injury. His right foot/ankle appeared to hit the boards awkwardly while he was being checked.
“I got no update,” said head coach Bruce Boudreau after the game. “I guess we’ll know Monday. Suter doesn’t get hurt often, so when he goes off like that, you worry.
With Jared Spurgeon already out with an injury, having both Suter and Spurgeon down for the count is definitely not a good thing.
Suter came into Saturday night leading the league in ice time at 26:54, a category he’s owned for years now. He has 45 assists this season, setting a franchise record for most assists in a single season by a Wild defenseman. His 22 power-play assists this season is also a franchise record. He also has six goals this year.
As far as the goal scoring, that was a star-studded affair. Jason Spezza scored just his eighth goal of the season to get the Stars on the board at the 12:49 mark of the first period. Dallas’ assists leader John Klingberg scored his eighth of the season for a 2-0 lead with 12 minutes to play in the second period.
The Wild’s hole got even bigger just 19 seconds into the third period when Radek Faksa capitalized on a Ryan Murphy turnover. The Stars went up 3-0 with that shorthanded goal.
The Wild’s lone goal came on the power play from Zach Parise when he redirected Mikael Granlund’s shot from the slot with just 1:29 into the third period to make it 3-1. The goal was No. 13 this season for Parise and third in the past two games. His point streak is up to six games with five goals and two assists in that span. Nine of his goals this season have been scored in the month of March.
The Stars (40-31-8) added an empty-netter to seal the victory in their final home game of the season. Tyler Seguin got the last tally, giving him 40 goals in a season for the first time in his career.
In goal:
Dubnyk (33-15-7) with 32 saves on 35 shots. Kari Lehtonen (14-14-3) with 33 saves on 34 shots.
Tidbits:
Matt Dumba went from a three-assist game on Thursday to a minus-3 night. Eric Staal was held off the scoresheet and was on the ice for all four Stars goals.
The Wild’s penalty kill went 3 for 3. Their kill is a perfect 15 for 15 over the past five games.
Joel Eriksson Ek had a team-high five shots on goal.
Up next:
With just four games left, the Wild host the Edmonton Oilers for the regular-season home finale on Monday before finishing up with a three-game California road trip.
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