Game Recap: Stars 5, Wild 2

DALLAS -- Jake Oettinger made 39 saves, and Wyatt Johnston extended his season-opening goal streak to three games to help the Dallas Stars defeat the Minnesota Wild 5-2 at American Airlines Center on Tuesday.

Oettinger, a Minnesota native, is 8-0-3 in his NHL career against the Wild.

“It’s always fun. We’ve seen them a lot. I feel like they don’t like us very much,” Oettinger said. “Every time we play them, it feels like the playoffs. They’re physical, they’re big, they’re tough. It feels like a playoff game, so it’s always fun playing them.”

Roope Hintz had a goal and two assists, Johnston also had an assist, and Esa Lindell had a goal and an assist in the home opener for the Stars (3-0-0), who are 10-0-5 in their past 15 games against the Wild.

“I like us through 40 minutes again,” Stars coach Glen Gulutzan said. “We had us out-chancing them after 40 minutes. Pretty low-event game when you play Minnesota. But in the third period, they got a little life, and [we] sat back a little too much. Eventually it’ll catch up to you, so just got to tighten that up for sure.”

Stars forward Matt Duchene left the game at 2:19 of the third period after being hit by Wild defenseman Jake Middleton. Gulutzan said that Duchene will need to be evaluated on Wednesday.

Kirill Kaprizov had a goal and an assist, Zeev Buium had two assists, and Matt Boldy scored for the Wild (2-2-0). Filip Gustavsson made 20 saves.

“I thought the first maybe 10 minutes of the first period, we had lots of chances and didn’t capitalize on it. I didn’t really like our second as much,” Wild coach John Hynes said. “Really liked our third period, the style of game, how we played. I thought we had lots of scoring chances, lots of shots, lots of shot attempts. It didn’t go in easy for us tonight, but it wasn’t for lack of pressure or opportunities.”

Boldy (four goals, four assists) is the first Wild player to score in each of the first four games of a season. Kaprizov (four goals, five assists) has a point in each of the first four games.

Boldy pulled Minnesota to within 3-1 at 3:50 in the third period when he tipped in a point shot from Buium in the slot on the power play.

“Third period was great. Made some great adjustments and went out there and played the best game we could to find a way to win. Lot of credit to everyone in the room,” Boldy said. “Back-to-backs are tough, but it’s no excuse. I thought we came out really well first 10 minutes and then they kind of stepped on the gas a little. We had spots in our game that weren’t the best, but it’s hard to get your legs, momentum. But I’m proud of the way we played in the third to give us a chance.”

Kaprizov made it 3-2 at 13:04 on a shot from the top of the right face-off circle on the power play. Minnesota’s last nine goals have come on the power play.

“Sometimes it goes in [at even strength], sometimes it doesn’t. You see the first 10 minutes of that first period, we’re getting so many shots to the net and a lot of good looks and it just doesn’t go in,” Buium said. “We started making really good plays in the third period. We have so many skilled guys in this room, if they just trust each other and trust ourselves, we can make more plays and sustain o-zone time, and we’ll probably see more go into the back of the net.”

Radek Faksa scored into an empty net at 18:18 to make it 4-2 and Hintz scored an empty-net goal at 19:50 for the 5-2 final.

“I think we’re playing pretty good offense. I think [Oettinger] is keeping us in the game a lot too. Lots of respect for him,” Hintz said. “But if we keep playing like that, and fix those little areas [on defense], we’re good.”

Lindell gave Dallas a 1-0 lead at 5:37 in the first period on a wrist shot from the top of the left face-off circle.

Johnston made it 2-0 at 16:18 on the power play when he cut towards the goal by dangling around Middleton, who had lost his stick, and sent the puck in to the far corner of the net.

“It’s a bit of a cluster in front of the net there. You’re in a tough spot with an up-and-coming world-class player, and you’ve got no stick. He scores a nice goal and you’re down two,” Middleton said.

Duchene extended the lead to 3-0 at 1:31 in the second period on the power play when he banked the puck in off Wild defenseman Zach Bogosian at the top of the crease.

“It definitely could have been maybe a little bit prettier,” Johnston said. “The biggest thing is just keep playing our game, keep staying on them. You don’t want to lay back and take on water. But you’ve got to win all sorts of different ways in this league, and at the end of the day, two points is two points.”

NOTES: The Stars tied a franchise record by winning their sixth straight home opener dating back to the 2020-21 season (they also had six wins in home openers from 2001-02 to 2007-08.) … Stars defenseman Thomas Harley had an assist. His 108 points (33 goals, 75 assists) in 200 NHL games ranks as the fourth-most points scored in 200 games by a defenseman in franchise history (John Klingberg, 131; Craig Hartsburg, 124; and Brad Maxwell, 120).