How Minnesota took over at 5v5

2026 Playoff Playbook (1): MIN vs. DAL G1

Yesterday, the Minnesota Wild dominated the Dallas Stars 6-1 and held the listless Stars to just four scoring chances in the first two periods, per inStat.

MIN controlled play at 5v5 thanks to its top pair of Quinn Hughes and Brock Faber. Here’s what I wrote about the dynamic duo in the Hockey Tactics 2026 ebook.

Hughes-Faber’s impact was clearly seen on the second and third MIN goals.

2-0

0:00 - MIN43 Hughes helps MIN36 Mats Zuccarello win a battle below the goal line

0:06 - MIN7 Faber gets off the wall and assumes the role of the center through the neutral zone

0:09 - DAL plays contain defense against the 3v4 entry. It is successful at taking away the middle, but MIN97 Kirill Kaprisov scores with a perfectly placed shot

3-0

0:00 - MIN43 Hughes overplays his hand at the left half-wall, but recovers the puck thanks to a timely poach by MIN7 Faber, who comes across to kill the play on his partner’s side

0:04 - Hughes temporarily assumes the role of the center, then kicks the puck out to the left flank for Zuccarello. MIN changes sides twice in quick succession to keep DAL on the run.

0:13 - MIN38 Ryan Hartman’s deflection goal is a fluke, but the sequence leading up to it is anything but

Minnesota’s ability to find F/D positional inversions troubled Dallas in Game 1.

Meanwhile, the disconnection between DAL’s forwards and defensemen was obvious. Here’s a representative clip from the first shift of the game.

0:00 - DAL4 Miro Heiskanen, on the mend from a lower-body injury, wins a DZ battle and moves the puck north

0:05 - Strong-side winger DAL96 Mikko Rantanen makes a good play to bypass the first MIN skater. However the Ds are left behind

0:08 - Weak-side winger DAL18 Sam Steel slashes across to create depth through the NZ, but is easily stopped by MIN7 Faber and a backchecking forward

0:10 - Rantanen gets off the wall to support the play in the middle, but his move leads him to swing away from the play, which exposes gaps between DAL Fs and Ds as MIN regains possession

Why doesn't DAL shoot the puck?

By and large, the less involved Dallas’ Ds are, the more disengaged its Fs look.

With Heiskanen’s movement compromised, Dallas’ best bet for equalizing the series is for Thomas Harley, Nils Lundkvist and Tyler Myers to activate through the middle on a more frequent basis.

Two examples from Game 1.

0:03 DAL5 Lundkvist activates as the weak-side D. DAL18 Steel finds him in the middle while the other Fs push MIN Ds back

0:06 A kick-out/change of side combination sets up DAL96 Rantanen for his team’s only (!) scoring chance of the opening period

0:04 - Dallas makes a long vertical play on the breakout. DAL57 Myers sprints into the play even if he won’t touch the puck

0:09 - Myers’ mad dash to the net disrupts MIN’s defensive spacing, which enables DAL95 Matt Duchene to delay, then cut into the high slot

Want to Talk Playoff Hockey with Me?

Here are details for the first of several Playoff Playbook video calls, available for paid Hockey Tactics Newsletter subscribers and Hockey Tactics 2026 ebook buyers.