Wild one win away from eliminating Stars after Game 5 victory

The Minnesota Wild are one win away from moving on to the second round of the playoffs for the first time in 11 years.

They held off the Dallas Stars 4-2 tonight at American Airlines Center to take a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series.

Game 6 is back in St. Paul, Minn., on Thursday.

Matt Boldy scored on a power play with 32 seconds to go in the second period to break a 1-1 tie.

Michael McCarron's lead extending goal in the third period turned into the game-winner for the Wild after Dallas' Jason Robertson answered back with 3:21 to go on a shot he banked in off Wild captain Jared Spurgeon.

Wild scoring leader Kirill Kaprizov polished off a three-point night with an empty-netter, and Jesper Wallstedt turned in a sharp 20-save performance.

Mats Zuccarello gave the Wild a 1-0 lead in the first period in his return to the playoffs after missing the previous three games hurt.

Zuccarello was injured on an elbow from the Stars' Tyler Myers in Game 1 but made a near immediate impact in his first game back, burying a pass from Kaprizov on his second shift of the game; Myers, oddly enough, turned the puck over to Ryan Hartman to put the scoring chance in motion.

Dallas tied the game later in the first on the power play when Miro Heiskanen connected on a point shot, but the Stars continue to struggle to score at 5-on-5; of their 13 goals in the series, nine have been on the power play.

Boldy's 10th career playoff goal came on a shot from the right circle that Quinn Hughes and Kaprizov assisted on, but the Wild were much more dangerous with Zuccarello distributing pucks and finished 1 for 3 with a man advantage; Dallas went 1 for 4.

Stars goalie Jake Oettinger totaled 24 saves.

The Wild also had Yakov Trenin back in action after he was hurt in Game 2 on a hit from Colin Blackwell, but defenseman Jonas Brodin left in the second period after blocking a shot and did not return.

The Wild are eyeing their first series victory since 2015 when they bounced the Blues in six games; that was the only other time in Wild history they went up 3-2 in a best-of-seven.

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