The Stars were aligned for another takedown of the Wild on Monday night in Minnesota.
Dallas, which ousted the Wild from the playoffs last season and won the first meeting earlier this season 8-3, pounded Minnesota 4-0 Monday night – and they did it again with a pair of shorthanded goals.
If you rewind the clock back to Nov. 12, the Stars had two shorthanded goals in the 8-3 blowout in St. Paul. They added two more Monday night – one by Roope Hintz in the first period and another by Radek Faksa in the third period – as they sent Minnesota to its fifth loss in its last six games.
Add ’em all up through two games and the Stars have four shorthanded, six power play and two five-on-five goals against the Wild this season.
Hintz’s shorthanded goal came just 12 seconds into Minnesota’s power play midway through the opening period. The unlikely goal came after the Stars won the draw to start the power play and cleared the puck into Minnesota’s end when star rookie defenseman Brock Faber coughed up the puck and gave Dallas an easy pass and goal to get the scoring started.
BANG! đź’Ą#NHLAllStarVote #MiroHeiskanen #RoopeHintz #JasonRobertson #MattDuchene pic.twitter.com/vtByniLzoU
— Dallas Stars (@DallasStars) January 9, 2024
The second shorty came in the waning seconds of a failed Minnesota power play in the third period when Tyler Seguin slid the puck across the ice to Faksa for an easy goal to beat Marc-Andre Fleury, who remains tied with Patrick Roy at 551 career wins, good for second most in NHL history.
Up 3-0, the Stars then took advantage of a holding penalty on Ryan Hartman and Jason Robertson scored for a 4-0 advantage.
Minnesota was 0-6 on the power play and mustered just two shots on goal in the third period after out-shooting the Stars 21-14 through the first 40 minutes of the game.
The Wild get another crack at the Stars in Dallas on Wednesday night.
