The Dallas Stars have had a clear edge over the depleted Minnesota Wild during most of the first two games of their Western Conference quarterfinal series.
The Stars even got the big break. Now the Wild want one, too.
“We’ve got to find a way to get our fluke goal,” coach John Torchetti said.
After winning 4-0 in Dallas in Game 1, the Stars took Game 2 on a 2-1 decision on the strength of Antoine Roussel’s contested, implausible score early in the second period when the puck popped off Roussel’s skate behind the net onto the back of goalie Devan Dubnyk’s head. It touched neither the stick of Roussel or Ales Hemsky, who was credited with an assist after the ricochet off his skate set up Roussel for his.
Conventional hockey wisdom calls for grittier work to get those lucky goals.