DeBoer: Evason accusing Stars of diving is 'deflection'

This first-round series between the Minnesota Wild and Dallas Stars is getting spicy.

Stars head coach Peter DeBoer took aim at Wild bench boss Dean Evason after he recently accused Dallas players of diving.

"There's a hockey term for that. It's called deflection," DeBoer said Friday prior to Game 3 of the tied series, per The Athletic's Joe Smith. "You know what, if I were coaching one of the most penalized teams in the league, I'd probably be doing the same thing. That's good coaching."

Following the Stars' Game 2 win on Wednesday, DeBoer pointed out that the Wild were the sixth-most penalized squad during the regular season and Dallas was "ready for that." The Stars, meanwhile, were the sixth-least penalized team.

Minnesota racked up 52 penalty minutes during its 7-3 loss, including four misconducts.

Evason responded to DeBoer's remarks on Thursday.

"We felt that they had some bigger people probably go down pretty easy in that hockey game," he said, according to The Athletic's Michael Russo. "We've talked about this before, and it's a fine line because we don't dive. ... There's so many times I would love to go in there and go, 'You know what, guys? Let's embellish.'

"I mean, you want to draw penalties because of how hard you're working and how gritty you are and whatever."

The Stars have scored five power-play goals on 11 opportunities in the series, including three tallies in Game 2. The Wild, meanwhile, have converted twice on nine chances.

Dallas has compiled 62 penalty minutes in the series, while Minnesota has taken 66.

Puck drops on Game 3 in Minnesota at 9:30 p.m. ET.

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