The question was simple as Matt Dumba stood in the Wild locker room following the blowout loss to the Dallas Stars in Game 5.

What gave him the confidence that the Wild could keep their hopes of winning the Stanley Cup alive in Game 6 of their first-round playoff series?

“This series isn’t over,” Dumba said. “Simple as that.”

No, it’s not, and the Wild understand the task at hand Friday night at the Xcel Energy Center. If they win, they will force a do-or-die Game 7 in Dallas. If they lose, they will be going home.

“We have to go through this adversity to get to where we want to go,” Wild coach Dean Evason said. “This is a good opportunity for us to play our best hockey right now.”

There have been stretches of good and bad from the Wild throughout the series.

They were fantastic in a 3-2 overtime victory in Game 1, with No. 2 goaltender Filip Gustavsson making a franchise-record 51 saves. They were erratic in a 7-3 Game 2 loss, leaving veteran goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury hung out to dry too many times. They were dominant in a 5-1 win in Game 3, with a big assist going to the sellout crowd in St. Paul. They were rattled in a 3-2 Game 4 loss at home, letting some questionable calls from the officials get the best of them. They were overmatched in a 4-0 loss in Game 5 in Dallas, never recovering after Marcus Foligno got ejected in the first couple of minutes.

What’s the mood heading into Game 6?

“It’s excitement,” defenseman Jared Spurgeon said. “We’re still in it. We’re in front of our home crowd. We’re looking forward to it.”

Think of it as the Wild sending a clear message. They aren’t backing down from the challenge. They are embracing it.

“It’s going to be a lot of fun,” Marcus Johansson said. “These games are the best games to play in.”

It’s not the first time the Wild have hosted an elimination game in the first round. In the 2021 first round, the Wild were in the same position, needing to defeat the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 6 to stay alive. They dominated that matchup to force a Game 7.

“I think every single player on the team knows what needs to happen tomorrow,” star forward Kirill Kaprizov said. “We need to go out there and play the game that we can play.”

In other words, if the Wild can stick to their game plan, and keep things at even strength, they feel good about their chances. As ghastly as the special teams have been over the past week, the Wild take pride in the fact they have been better than the Stars at 5 on 5.

There will be ample time for fans to pregame ahead of Game 6 with puck drop set for 8:50 p.m. That should create a sellout crowd more than ready to erupt if given a reason. It’s on the Wild to provide that reason.

“We’re confident coming back home,” Dumba said. “Just get things done and anything can happen.”