The Stars snuff out the Wild

Marchment's twin wristers light the Stars' way

Fists before flames

Sixteen candles were still burning when the Dallas Stars came to Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, and only half would be lit by the end of the round. The Minnesota Wild knew how this felt. In the last Gauntlet, the Colorado Avalanche doused them in the round of 16 and ended the Stars one round later.

The gloves came off early. Brendan Smith and Jake Middleton dropped them at 12:10 of the first. At 15:31, Mathew Dumba and Zach Bogosian did the same. That made four fighting majors before the first intermission.

Marchment strikes twice

Mason Marchment wristed in the opener at 18:43 of the first, set up by Ilya Lyubushkin and Tyler Seguin. Then Filip Gustavsson shut the door, and the scoreboard sat still for 32:41. Marchment finally broke through at 11:24 of the third with another wrister, this time from Sam Steel and Lyubushkin.

Kirill Kaprizov answered 2:46 later, tipping in a feed from Jared Spurgeon and Matt Boldy. Minnesota got no closer. Jake Oettinger stopped 22 of 23, and Gustavsson's 38 saves weren't enough. The Wild's flame, lit by beating the Predators on qualification night, went cold. The Stars, who had snuffed the Utah Hockey Club that first night, burn on as one of eight.