DALLAS – A determined offensive push by the Minnesota Wild came too late, in this case.
Trailing the Stars by a trio of goals, Minnesota threw everything at its disposal toward the Dallas net in the final period, but despite the work of its NHL-best power play, came up just short.
Third period man-advantage goals by Kirill Kaprizov and Matt Boldy made it a nail-biter, but the Stars were able to hold on for a 5-2 win Tuesday night in north Texas.
Dallas goalie Jake Oettinger carried much of the load, stopping 38 shots as the Wild fell to 2-2-0 for the season, starting a long road trip on a down note. For Minnesota, goalie Filip Gustavsson had 20 saves in the loss.
Trailing 3-0 in the third, Minnesota pulled back within a goal, and outshot Dallas 16-4 in the final 20 minutes, only to see Radek Faksa and Roope Hintz score empty-net goals to squelch the drama.
While the power play for Minnesota has been a bright spot, the Wild have now gone three games without a 5-on-5 goal.
In the early going, the Wild looked nothing like a team that had played the night before and had gotten into their Texas hotel beds at 3 a.m. Tuesday morning. They pelted Oettinger with eight shots in the opening three minutes of the game, but the momentum was short-lived.
Dallas struck first just over five minutes into the game when an errant Vladimir Tarasenko pass was intercepted by Hintz, who fed defenseman Esa Lindell for a low shot through traffic that eluded Gustavsson.
When Minnesota took the first penalty of the game late in the first, Dallas needed 31 seconds of man advantage to double its lead. After Wild defenseman Jake Middleton lost his stick while guarding the front of the net, Stars forward Wyatt Johnston was able to walk around him and pop a shot into the top right corner of the net.
Despite being outshot 14-11 by its guests, Dallas took its two-goal lead into the first break.
Early in the middle frame, Minnesota killed all but seven seconds of the Stars’ second power play, but ended up in the three-goal hole thanks to an unfortunate bounce. With Zach Bogosian manning the top of the crease, Dallas forward Matt Duchene was able to bank a puck off the Wild defenseman’s skate and between Gustavsson’s knees.
Minnesota’s power play, which entered the game leading the NHL in efficiency, got its first opportunity of the night in the second period, and crowded Oettinger’s crease. But they came away empty after the goalie smothered a Kaprizov wrist shot from 12 feet out.
The Wild began the third period with 51 seconds of man advantage and spent all of that time in the offensive zone, with nothing to show for it on the scoreboard.
The handful of Minnesota fans at American Airlines Center finally had a reason to cheer when Middleton leveled Duchene with an open-ice hit in the neutral zone, then got in a scrap that ended with the Wild on a power play. They spoiled Oettinger’s attempt at a clean sheet when Zeev Buium’s shot from the blue line sailed through a crowd and was deflected by Boldy on the way to the back of the net.
Boldy, who has scored in every Wild game, became the first player in franchise history to open a season with a four-game goal streak.
Tuesday night’s game marked the Stars’ 32nd home opener since they moved to Texas in 1993. The franchise spent its first 26 seasons in the Twin Cities, playing home games in Bloomington as the Minnesota North Stars.
The Wild, who are in the midst of a five-game road trip – their second-longest of the season – have two days off before a 6 p.m. game on Thursday versus the Capitals in Washington.
