The Minnesota Wild are still alive after a huge OT win on the road in Game 5, but it was not in the least bit easy. Despite starting the game off with a 2-0 lead, the Wild got to see just how much trouble the Dallas Stars’ offense can cause a team.

Much of that trouble came in the third period as the two teams just kept throwing punches and counter punches on the scoreboard.

Here’s a look at the five key moments from a game that turned out to be wildly entertaining and incredible dramatic:

1. Wild score twice in the first five minutes of the game.

The start for the Stars probably couldn’t have been much worse. The Wild opened the scoring on a Mikael Granlund goal just 3:32 into the game when he capitalized on a terrible turnover by Alex Goligoski, dangled Antti Niemi out of his pads and eventually stuffed home the goal from the side of the net.

Not even two minutes later, Jordan Schroeder – inserted into the lineup for the first time this series – scored his first career postseason goal off of a juicy rebound from a Ryan Suter shot.

Niemi didn’t seem to have his best stuff in the game and it showed early on.

2. Jamie Benn scores an absolute beauty to tie the game in the third period

After Johnny Oduya scored late in the first period to cut the deficit in half for the Stars, neither team managed to find the net in the second period. It didn’t take long for things to get going in the third, however.

Jamie Benn, the Stars captain and a dominant performer in this series, scored just one minute into the period after some incredible athleticism from defenseman John Klingberg.

Wild forward Mikko Koivu tried to send the puck out of the zone high off the glass. The lanky Klingberg was able to jump up, knock it down and keep the puck in the zone. He dropped the puck to his stick and put a perfect pass on Benn’s tape to spring the captain.

Benn had an open look on Devan Dubnyk and made a silky-smooth move to bury the chance:

That’s just an exceptional all-around play. Even after the score, Benn appeared to be as in awe as anyone of how he ended up with the puck on that play. That assist from Klingberg was incredible.

The excitement of Benn’s goal was short-lived, though, as Nino Niederreiter got his first of the series just 50 seconds later to give Minnesota a 3-2 lead on a pretty goal of his own.

3. After Wild regain lead, Stars flip it with two goals in 28 seconds

That goal from Niederreiter held for a little while until the Stars went out and did that thing where they score a pair of goals so fast you hardly have time to understand what just happened.

First it was Jason Spezza, who came out from behind the Wild net and flung a shot low that snuck past Devan Dubnyk on the far post. It doesn’t look like the Wild netminder was expecting the shot to come from there, but Spezza now has three goals in the series.

On the next series, Goligoski – who committed that egregious turnover on the game’s opening goal – got some redemption. The veteran blueliner flung a shot at the net that ended up deflecting off of Wild defenseman Nate Prosser and into Minnesota’s net to make it 4-3 in incredibly rapid fashion.

Listen to the crowd explode as this one goes in.

4 & 5. Mikko Koivu ties game late, ends it in overtime

Similar to Goligoski, Koivu had that turnover that led to the Benn goal that sparked the rally. The Wild captain had some making up to do and did he ever in this one.

The Stars were just over three minutes away from advancing to the second round, when Minnesota got extremely active in the Dallas zone. They were all over the puck and when Granlund got it at the side of the Stars’ net, it looks like he was thinking he’d go for a wraparound. Instead, he spotted Koivu parked in front and dished off a quick pass.

Before Niemi even had a chance to see what was happening, Koivu snapped a shot right past him to tie the game.

The captain wasn't done yet, though.

Just 4:55 into the extra period, Koivu got a stick on Ryan Suter’s shot and managed to tip it at just the right angle. The puck went low and somehow squeezed through Niemi’s legs before he could get them set for the save. The puck then snuck into the net to keep the Wild's playoff dream alive.

Check out both clutch goals here:

Now Minnesota gets back to home ice with a chance to force a Game 7. No one really gave the Wild much of a chance coming into this series and there was little reason to. However, after all of their struggles scoring goals down the stretch, Minnesota just out-dueled one of the NHL’s very best offensive teams in one of the craziest games we’ve seen yet this postseason.

Game 6 is set for Sunday at 3 p.m. ET in St. Paul.

The Wild celebrate after Mikko Koivu saved their season. (USATSI)
The Wild celebrate after Mikko Koivu saved their season. (USATSI)