Stars' Special Teams Shine, Five-on-Five Struggles Loom

0:00It's April 26th. Welcome to NHL News Today, AI-powered coverage of your squad. I'm Corey with the story. Dallas stars Lake Game Force that brightened their fingers against the Minnesota Wild. They grabbed a 1-0 lead on the power play in the first, then made it 2-1 late in the second thanks to Miro Heiskenin. Held that edge, deep into the third, with about 5 minutes left, but couldn't snag that killer insurance goal. Now clawed back to tie in, forcing overtime or whatever, sealed the 1 goal loss, and now the series sits at 2 games apiece. That turns this into a best of 3 showdown, with Dallas heading home. Big worry is their 5 on 5 play. They've only potted 3 even strength goals, all series, getting out scored 9-3. But check the numbers, they've cooked up over 8 expected goals there, shooting a measly 3%. Those quality shots got to start landing soon. Just top 6 forwards and carrying the load at even strength. Jason Robertson snagged 2 of those, 3-5 on 5 tallies, Wyatt Johnston, the other, but

1:05lines with Matt Dushane and Miko Rantanin looked. Roughlow expected goal shares, giving up high danger chances. Bottom 6 actually edged the play in game 4. Coach called it a puck-luck issue, but they need those stars creating more. On the bright side, special teams are straight fire. Before play ripped in 8 goals the series, added 2 more in the loss, with Robertson and Rantanin wrecking havoc. Penalty kills shut down the wild cold too. Jake O'Edinger stood tall with 40 saves, above expected by over 1 goal. One hiccup, Niels Lumpis took escape to the face, nasty cut, might miss time. He's been huge on D-stars, still got the edge at home, but fixing that, 5 on 5 finish, had locked this series up quick.