Robertson scores hat trick in second straight game, Stars defeat Wild

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Jason Robertson scored a hat trick for the second consecutive game, and the Dallas Stars won their fourth in a row with a 6-3 victory against the Minnesota Wild at Xcel Energy Center on Sunday.

Robertson scored his first NHL hat trick in a 4-3 overtime win against the Winnipeg Jets on Friday. He is the first active player to record a hat trick in two straight games since Washington Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin (Jan. 16-18, 2020).
"I'm just glad we won the game and didn't blow that lead," Robertson said. "It was pretty neat. … My linemates worked really hard today and got those opportunities, and when you start feeling good, you start to shoot the puck more with more confidence."
Jake Oettinger made 32 saves, Joe Pavelski and Jamie Benn each had a goal and an assist, and John Klingberg had two assists for Dallas (32-20-3), which is 5-0-1 during a six-game point streak.
"It was a great hockey game," Stars coach Rick Bowness said. "They're a good team. I thought we played really well. Simple as that."

Kirill Kaprizov had two goals, Nico Sturm scored, and Mats Zuccarello had two assists for Minnesota (32-19-3), which is 2-8-0 in its past 10 games. Kaapo Kahkonen allowed four goals on 21 shots before being replaced in the second period by Cam Talbot, who made three saves.
"The teams behind us or around us (in the standings) are playing really well," Sturm said. "It's almost like, I don't want to say panic or scared to lose, but everybody realizes what's going on. And we're grasping at something trying to stop it and it's not working out right now.
"I don't really have the answers right now. I just know that it's not for a lack of effort."
Sturm gave Minnesota a 1-0 lead at 10:52 of the first period when he received a pass from Nick Bjugstad and scored with a backhand.
Pavelski tied it 1-1 with three seconds left in the period after a scramble in front on the power play. Wild coach Dean Evason challenged the play for goaltender interference, but the call on the ice stood after a video review.

On the ensuing power play for delay of game, Robertson put the Stars ahead 2-1 at 1:38 of the second period.
"Kudos to our power play and everyone scoring with a couple of seconds left (in the first period), and then we kind of double-dipped there when they got the coach's challenge (penalty), and that kind of swung the game around," Robertson said.
Riley Tufte gave the Stars a 3-1 lead at 3:13 with his first NHL goal.
"I started falling down when I scored, so I wasn't sure if it went in right away, but I saw it going back in the net and it was an awesome feeling," said Tufte, a native of Blaine, Minnesota. "Coming home and being able to play here and getting the first one here tops it off."
Robertson scored through a screen to extend the lead 4-1 at 9:52.
"It seems like one little thing starts a little bit of a snowball effect in a game like that," said Kahkonen, who was pulled after the goal. "It's not the way it should be, but we just really have to dig ourselves out of this."
Kaprizov cut it to 4-2 at 16:19 of the third period, beating Oettinger low stick side with Talbot on the bench for the extra skater, before making it 4-3 at 18:03 with another 6-on-5 goal.

However, Benn shot into the empty net at 18:55 to make it 5-3, and Robertson completed the hat trick with his own empty-net goal at 19:28 for the 6-3 final.
"What we've done is praised our group all year for just staying the course and not panicking and all that good stuff and competing," Evason said. "But human nature, we are a fragile group right now. … And we talked to the group. Nobody feels sorry for us. The Dallas Stars don't feel sorry for us, nobody else in the league feels sorry for us. So we're not going to feel sorry for ourselves.
"We're gonna come to work tomorrow and figure some stuff out and stick together and play a [very] hard game whenever that next one is."
NOTES:Wild forward Frederick Gaudreau was injured late in the third period. No update was given postgame. … Robertson joins Bill Goldsworthy (March 16-21, 1971) as the second player in Stars/Minnesota North Stars history to score a hat trick in consecutive games. … Stars forward Tyler Seguin had one assist, one shot on goal and four hits in 15:12 of ice time after missing one game with a non-COVID illness. … Pavelski has scored six points (one goal, five assists) during a five-game point streak. He also has an assist in five straight games. … Kaprizov has scored eight points (five goals, three assists) during a five-game point streak. … Zuccarello had two assists and three shots on goal in 23:09 of ice time after missing one game with an upper-body injury. … Minnesota defenseman Matt Dumba had three shots on goal and three hits in 24:04 of ice time after missing 10 games with a lower-body injury. … Minnesota was 1-for-3 on the penalty kill and is 28-for-44 (63.6 percent) in its past 13 games.