Stars score 7 on special teams, cruise past Wild

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- The Dallas Stars scored five power-play goals and two short-handed goals in an 8-3 win against the Minnesota Wild at Xcel Energy Center on Sunday.

Dallas finshed 5-for-8 on the power play.

“Yeah, that's the story of the game,” Stars forward Tyler Seguin said. “We've seen it a few times against these guys, and you know they come so aggressive. You accept that and try to make the little plays. I thought we played great. We're glad our power play clicked tonight. We've been trying to find that and get rewarded for that for the last little while.”

Jason Robertson and Wyatt Johnston each had two goals and an assist, Matt Duchene had a goal and an assist, and Miro Heiskanen had three assists for Dallas (10-3-1), which has won three straight, including 3-2 at the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday. Jake Oettinger made 23 saves.

“I thought we were real good,” Stars coach Peter DeBoer said. “We’re playing back-to-back and probably I think three in four nights here. End of a road trip, tough game. I think we showed up and executed right from the first shift of the game. We were ready to play, knew the importance of the game, and got the job done.”

Brandon Duhaime, Vinni Lettieri and Mats Zuccarello scored for Minnesota (5-8-2), which has lost three straight and seven of nine (2-6-1). Marc-Andre Fleury made 29 saves.

“It’s hard to digest, right?” Wild coach Dean Evason said. “The scary part is we were still in the hockey game at 4-2. That’s the scary part, because we were awful. Like awful.”

Joe Pavelski gave Dallas a 1-0 lead just 57 seconds into the first period with a power-play goal.

Radek Faksa made it 2-0 at 9:49, scoring a short-handed goal five-hole on Fleury following a turnover by Lettieri.

Duhaime scored 49 seconds later with a backhand in the slot to cut it to 2-1, but 14 seconds after that, Duchene scored on a tip-in to push the lead to 3-1.

Lettieri cut it again to 3-2 at 19:12 with a wrist shot over the right shoulder of Oettinger on a rush.

Johnston gave Dallas a 4-2 lead at 2:34 of the second period, scoring a power-play goal from the slot off a pass from Duchene. 

“You’re climbing up a hill,” Minnesota forward Marcus Foligno said. “You’re chasing. It’s tough. You’re trying to get confidence and you’re trying to get guys to feel comfortable again. … It’s just not a good taste, and right now, it’s a penalty-kill goal and a power-play goal against, and it’s just ugly. It’s just a negative way to start a game. We did battle back, but we keep coughing it up.”

Evgenii Dadonov extended the lead to 5-2 at 12:11 with another power-play goal, burying the rebound of Johnston's shot in the crease.

“We shoot ourselves in the foot being in the box that many times,” Wild captain Jared Spurgeon said. “But when you’re in the box, you still have to kill a penalty, whether it’s blocking a shot or just making a play to get the puck out. Things that can be fixed, but we have to look in the mirror a little bit here, see what we’re doing and go from there.”

Zuccarello scored a power-play goal for Minnesota to get it to 5-3 at 15:59.

However, Robertson then scored two power-play goals in a 2:07 span for Dallas. He made it 6-3 at 1:02 of the third period on a rebound in the low slot before making it 7-3 at 3:07.

Both goals came after Duhaime was assessed a major penalty for boarding and a game misconduct at 18:14 of the second. Thomas Harley, who Duhaime hit on the play, left the game and did not return. 

“It kind of bled into this year from last year’s (power-play) success (fifth in NHL),” Robertson said. “Hopefully, we can keep this momentum up going forward. [The Wild] still have very good penalty killers and we made a lot of good plays, so it feels good.”

Johnston scired the Stars' second short-handed goal on a breakaway off a pass from Jamie Benn at 17:57 for the 8-3 final.

“We can complain and get angry and do all that stuff, but that’s not going to help us,” Foligno said. “We like to think we’re an experienced group and can get out of this. There’s a time and place for getting angry, but yeah, we’re angry."

NOTES: Pavelski has 1,014 points (455 goals, 559 assists), passing Pat LaFontaine for sole possession of ninth-most among U.S.-born skaters in NHL history. … Dallas tied its record for most power-play goals (five) in a game. Since relocating to Dallas from Minnesota, the Stars had done it just one other time (Jan. 22, 2021, against Nashville).