Minnesota Wild forward Marcus Foligno believes the key to beating the Dallas Stars is to stay out of the penalty box.
"They're looking to play five-on-four. That's their game," Foligno said following Minnesota's 4-2 loss in Game 2. "They can't hang with us five-on-five."
The Stars, who owned the NHL's second-best power play during the regular season, capitalized on two of their four opportunities with the man advantage in Monday's Game 2. Dallas' only goal during a 6-1 loss in the series opener also came on the power play.
Foligno notably received a double-minor for roughing Thomas Harley toward the end of the second period Monday.
Marcus Foligno received a double-minor for this takedown on Thomas Harley at the end of the 2nd period 😳😬 pic.twitter.com/aMdwunYYkO
— Gino Hard (@GinoHard_) April 21, 2026
"We just have to be smarter, myself included," he said.
Though Stars head coach Glen Gulutzan disagreed with Foligno's notion that the Wild are superior at even strength, he said he wouldn't use the quote to motivate his team.
"I don't know if we need a bulletin board," Gulutzan said Tuesday. "We're just going to keep doing what we're doing and grind this thing to where we need to go. Obviously, I don't agree with it. It was a pretty close game last night."
The Wild have outscored the Stars 4-2 at five-on-five in the series while controlling 52.4% of the expected goals, per Natural Stat Trick.
