Of all the first-round matchups in the Stanley Cup playoffs, the big heavyweight fight was between the Minnesota Wild and the Dallas Stars, and it paid off.
However, there was a truly terrifying moment in a Game 4 thriller when a player took a skate right to the face.
It happened late in the game when Minnesota’s Michael McCarron tried to work his way around Dallas defenseman Nils Lundkvist toward a puck that had been sent across the goal by Marcus Foligno.
Dallas Stars defenseman Nils Lundkvist takes an inadvertent skate to the face from Minnesota Wild forward Michael McCarron. Lundkvist did not return to the game. (Photo by Bailey Hillesheim/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
However, as McCarron dove toward the puck, his foot came up and hit Lundkvist right in the face.
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That’s just terrifying.
Lundkvist left the ice bleeding and did not return to the game, which ended up needing overtime to decide a winner.
Hopefully he’ll be fine because the Stars will need all hands on deck on this one. After all, it looks like it might end up going all the way.
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In the extra frame, it looked like Minnesota’s Matt Boldy had decided the game, but the goal was disallowed due to a distinctive kicking motion.
Matt Boldy might be one of the most underrated players in the NHL, but yeah, that was a very distinctive kick move.
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However, Boldy was going to be the one to even this series one way or another, and later in overtime he buried one that there was no doubt about.
This series delivers exactly what we all expected. The Wild won in a blowout in Game 1, followed by the Stars winning the next two, including a Game 3 that required double overtime.
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So this one heads back to the Lone Star State tied at 2-2, and certainly looks like it has the potential to make it to Game 7.
But hey, this was to be expected from a meeting of two powers of the Central Division.
