Stars rout Wild 8-3 for third straight win

Field Level Media|published: Sun 12th November, 20:56 2023

Nov 12, 2023; Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA; Dallas Stars center Radek Faksa (12) shoots and scores Minnesota Wild center Vinni Lettieri (10) on defense in the first period at Xcel Energy Center. credits: Matt Blewett-USA TODAY Sports

Jason Robertson and Wyatt Johnston each had two goals and an assist, and the Dallas Stars cruised to an 8-3 win over the host Minnesota Wild on Sunday evening in Saint Paul, Minn.

Matt Duchene finished with a goal and an assist for Dallas, which won its third consecutive game. Joe Pavelski, Radek Faksa and Evgenii Dadonov also scored.

Minnesota dropped its third game in a row. Brandon Duhaime, Vinni Lettieri and Mats Zuccarello scored one goal apiece for the Wild.

Stars goaltender Jake Oettinger stopped 23 of 26 shots to earn the victory.

Wild goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury allowed eight goals on 37 shots.

Dallas led 3-2 at the end of the first period.

The Stars opened the scoring with a power-play goal less than a minute after the start of the game. Pavelski punched in a rebound from the front of the crease for his sixth goal of the season.

With the goal, Pavelski moved into ninth place on the all-time list for most points by a U.S.-born player. He notched his 1,014th career point to surpass Hall of Famer Pat LaFontaine. The all-time leader is Michigan native Mike Modano with 1,374 points.

Faksa added a short-handed goal to make it 2-0 in favor of the Stars.

Minnesota pulled within 2-1 on a goal by Duhaime midway through the first period.

Duchene increased the Stars' lead to 3-1 only 49 seconds later.

Lettieri cut the deficit to 3-2 for the Wild when he scored with 48 seconds left in the first period.

In the second period, Dallas increased the lead to 5-3. Johnston and Dadonov tallied back-to-back goals, both of which came on the power play, to help the Stars cushion their lead.

The Wild pulled within two goals on Zuccarello's fourth goal with 4:01 left in the second period, also on a power play.

Dallas started the third period with two goals from Robertson to seize a 7-3 lead. He scored both goals on the power play after Duhaime drew a five-minute major and a 10-minute misconduct for boarding.

Robertson scored his first goal of the game by punching in a loose puck from the slot. He struck again with a one-timer from near the blue line with 16:51 remaining.

Johnston notched a short-handed goal with 2:03 to play for his second marker of the game and seventh of the season.

—Field Level Media