Game Recap: Dallas 8, Wild 3

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, capitalizing on a turnover by Lettieri for a short-handed goal from the slot.

Duhaime made it 2-1 49 seconds later at 10:38 with a backhand in the slot.

But Duchene increased the lead again just 14 seconds later with a tip-in at 10:52 to make it 3-1.

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

Duchene fed Johnston in the slot on the power play at 2:34 of the second period to give Dallas a 4-2 lead. 

“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 added a third power-play goal, finishing on a rebound off a Nils Lundkvist shot at 12:11 to make it 5-2. 

“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 shot a wrist shot off the right post and in on the power play to make it 5-3 at 15:59.

Duhaime was assessed a five-minute major for boarding and a game misconduct at 18:14 for a hit on Thomas Harley. Harley left the game and did not return. DeBoer had no update. 

Robertson scored on a rebound from the low slot on the power play at 1:02 of the third period to make it 6-3 before making it 7-3 at 3:09 with another power-play goal. Both goals came during the major penalty to Duhaime. 

“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.”

Jamie Benn fed Johnston on a breakaway for the Stars’ second short-handed goal 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,” said Foligno. “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 moved past Pat LaFontaine for sole possession of ninth-most points among U.S.-born skaters (1,014). … Johnston (20 years, 182 days) became the fourth-youngest player in Stars/North Stars history to score 30 career goals behind Brian Bellows (18 years, 196 days), Mike Modano (20 years, 126 days) and Tom McCarthy (20 years, 145 days). … Dallas tied the Stars/North Stars franchise mark for most power-play goals (five) in a contest. Since relocating to Dallas, they have done so just one other time (Jan. 22, 2021 against Nashville). This was also the last time any NHL team has done so.