RD1 GM4 04/23 @ Minnesota (5:30PM CT) - Must Win

[The Frugal Gourmet]

we can no longer ice it

[5minmajor]

Another lucky bounce

[SaintAngerBH]

That was all Oettinger. He totally lost the puck

[Troy McClure]

The puck hits Boldy up high and lands on Klingberg’s stick. A rebound then hits Gaudreau right in the chest to land right where he can shoot it. Crazy puck luck.

[Knives Out]

Hell yeah, Otter.

[SaintAngerBH]

Foligno has such a punchable face.

[Archangel972]

I figured if the Stars won this game they would likely win this series but I'm honestly not so sure now. I expected a better effort to the start the game but hey, a win is a win.

[The Frugal Gourmet]

I'm willing to say Otter stole that one. Wild were overall better, but best of three.

[SaintAngerBH]

Oh I love silencing their fans.

[Math]

YES ! no OT !

[Troy McClure]

Oettinger was awesome. Bailed them out of some ugly breakdowns early to keep them in it.

[The Frugal Gourmet]

I would love to win a game 6 in their building.

[B Kat]

Some playoff drama there.

[The Frugal Gourmet]

[SaintAngerBH]

I bet Evason's press conference is going to be lit.

[Getsmacked123]

At least we know that we're going to have at least two more games.

[The Frugal Gourmet]

This is a weird series because so many of the goals have been special teams.

It's no wonder everyone's hyper focused on the refs. it really matters in this one

[ToddM]

Foligno = Marchment. He also looks like the sheriff from Stranger Things if the sheriff was on meth.

Really though the Stars looked much, much better from the opening puck drop. They had all of one chance in the middle in all of Game three, and had 3 or 4 chances up the middles within the first few minutes. Two posts, but you could tell it wasn't going to be another easy win for the Wild.

[slaps]

The refs have been terrible for both teams but what else is new.

Stars didn’t get outplayed, exactly, but they didn’t really look like they deserved that win either. Aside from Oettinger.

[ToddM]

[SaintAngerBH]

Whoa. I never saw that before.

[Math]

It is fair to say that Öttinger stole this one but the Stars were also more opportunistic. Minnesota was overall the better team, they were faster, won more battles and were really quick and organized on the backcheck but the Stars adjusted quite well throughout the game in making a great job in cutting line passes and blocking shots. It still took a batshit amount of time to correct those suicidal turnovers.

The Wild will *goddess* on the refs but the Dadonov penalty was borderline and Zuccarello dived. I'd say the officiating has been quite bar so far, on both sides.

[The Frugal Gourmet]

It was better than the previous game and we had a bit of luck.

Hopefully we have a great game at home next. Some of our guys still need to show up.

[ToddM]

[The Frugal Gourmet]

The slow motion makes it look less cool.

Like he basically arrived there way early and had a cup of coffee first.

[cdanew]

Oettinger doing a spot-on impersonation of Jamie Benn

[Math]

I thought it was Justin Bieber. But I'm looking for next year with teams using chatGPT avatars for pre- and post-game interviews.

[SaintAngerBH]

The slow motion makes it look less cool.

Like he basically arrived there way early and had a cup of coffee first.

True, but that's a testament to his skill level in getting there that early.

[slaps]

https://www.shapshotshockey.com/p/break ... ild-game-4

And in Game 4, with his team trailing 2-1 in the series, Oettinger delivered. He stopped 33 shots, multiple breakaways, and then sealed the victory with a lateral save moving right to left on Marcus Johansson as the Stars won 3-2.

I want to focus on that last-minute stop, because by all accounts, at this moment, it looks like the Wild are going to force overtime.

But Oettinger gets across and makes the save with his glove. Allow me to nerd out on this, if you will, because this is pretty close to a technically perfect sequence for the goalie.

Good read with some technical analysis and illustrations.

[ToddM]

Foligno whiffing on a completely empty net from about two feet away was also choice.