The Minnesota Wild have won their first playoff series in 11 years.
The Wild secured a trip to the Western Conference semifinals with a 5-2 Thursday night win over the visiting Dallas Stars.
Later in the evening, the Anaheim Ducks won their first playoff series in nine years after beating the back-to-back Western Conference champion Edmonton Oilers, 5-2.
Here’s a look at this weekend’s remaining schedule as three more teams look to close out their own first-round series this weekend.
Thursday Schedule and Results
Minnesota Wild 5, Dallas Stars 2 (Wild win series 4-2)
Anaheim Ducks 5, Edmonton Oilers 2 (Ducks win series 4-2)
Tampa Bay Lightning at Montreal Canadiens, 7 p.m. ET (Canadiens lead series 3-2)
Buffalo Sabres at Boston Bruins, 7:30 p.m. ET (Sabres lead series 3-2)
Vegas Golden Knights at Utah Mammoth, 10 p.m. ET (Golden Knights lead series 3-2)
Quinn Hughes hadn’t scored a playoff goal since 2020 heading into Game 6.
He scored twice on Thursday night, including a slot pass that ricocheted off the skate of a Stars defender for the series-clinching goal.
Matt Boldy scored two empty netters to seal the win for rookie goaltender Jesper Wallstedt, who finished the night having made 22 saves.
The Wild have made eight postseason appearances over the last 10 years without winning a series. That drought will finally end as the team advances to play either the Golden Knights or Mammoth in the second round.
Wyatt Johnston and Mavrik Bourque scored for the Stars as Jake Oettinger made 16 saves in the loss. After qualifying for three straight Western Conference Finals, the Stars will head home without winning a playoff series for the first time since 2022.
Anaheim advanced to the second round thanks largely to a three-goal spurt in a 6:53 first period span courtesy of Ryan Poehling, Chris Kreider and Cutter Gauthier, who got his tally on the power play and gave the Ducks a 3-1 lead. Gauthier also got an assist on Poehling’s goal.
Connor Murphy scored one at 15:14 for Edmonton to cut the Ducks’ 2-0 lead in half, although Gauthier answered with his aforementioned goal 1:36 later.
Troy Terry put Anaheim up 4-1 with 47 seconds left in the second period off assists from Leo Carlsson (his second helper of the game) and Kreider.
Vasily Podkolzin got one back for Edmonton after Kasperi Kapanen’s shot deflected off him into the net early in the third period.
However, Carlsson later scored on an empty net to put the game away. Carlsson, Kreider and Terry each had a goal and two assists.
Ducks goaltender Lukáš Dostál made 25 saves for the win. In addition, Gauthier and Poehling finished with four goals apiece to lead the Ducks in this series.
Anaheim will now play the winner of the Vegas Golden Knights vs. Utah Mammoth first round playoff series. Vegas leads Utah three games to two.
