A generation ago, Minnesota lost its NHL team to Dallas. On Monday, all it lost was its replacement NHL team’s winning streak. Backstopped by 32 saves from Jake Oettinger, the Dallas Stars beat the Wild 3-0 at American Airlines Center, after Minnesota had won its previous three in a row. Except fo r one bad minute in the second period when Dallas got a pair of quick goals from Wyatt Johnston and Matt Duchene, Wild goalie Filip Gustavsson matched Oettinger – the former Lakeville North prep star. But he took the loss despite 29 saves. Mason Marchment added an empty-net goal for the Stars in the final minute. “I thought we played the style of game that you need to do to be able to play against this team. Unfortunately we didn’t get rewarded on the score sheet,” Wild coach John Hynes said. “We had a lot of good looks. I thought Oettinger played really well, came up big when he needed to for them. We couldn’t find a way to break through.” It was the fifth time this season that the Wild had been shut out, and the first blanking since early February. For Oettinger, it was his second clean sheet of the season. “I love playing against those guys. People from all over your hometown are going to be tuning in. It’s fun to play well against those guys,” Oettinger said. “The guys have always played good for me against them, and they help me out. They know how important these games are for me, and it was a good win.” Minnesota not only lost the game, but may have lost another player to injury, as defenseman Declan Chisholm left the rink in the second period and did not return. At the most recent trade deadline, the Stars made a splash by going out and grabbing Mikko Rantanen from his brief stop in Carolina, and adding former Wild first-rounder Mikael Granlund from San Jose. The Wild had made minor moves, in part due to fiscal constraints, and in part due to general manager Bill Guerin’s faith in the team that he had assembled and had gotten Minnesota into a solid playoff position when healthy. Gustavsson, who was named the NHL’s first star of the week earlier in the day after winning his previous three starts, was tested by both Rantanen and Granlund early, with the goalie winning both battles. He poke-checked a puck off Rantanen’s stick on a partial breakaway, then foiled a point-blank shot by Granlund with a sweeping glove save. The first period ended scoreless with each team killing a penalty, and the Wild beginning the middle frame on a man advantage after Rantanen hauled down Minnesota forward Marcus Johansson in the final seconds of the first. The Wild got a quartet of shots on the power play but could not score, then Oettinger made a highlight reel glove save on Marco Rossi with the teams again skating five-on-five. “We had our looks. At the end of the day he’s a good goalie. Made some big stops,” Wild defenseman Zach Bogosian said. “We had quite a few chances there in the third, right around the blue paint. We just couldn’t really bang them home tonight. But we showed each other that if we shoot the puck and get bodies in front of goalies it makes it tough on them, and we’ve got to continue to do that.” Dallas finally broke the scoreless deadlock on a late second period power play when Johnston tipped a shot past Gustavsson from the top of the crease. It was a rare goal given up by the Wild’s penalty killers in recent games. After struggling most of the season with a player in the penalty box, the Wild had killed 14 of their previous 15 penalties coming into the game. The Stars doubled their lead less than a minute later when Duchene sent a shot through traffic that Gustavsson didn’t see until it was past the goalie. Minnesota defenseman Jon Merrill went to the penalty box with 1:29 left in the period, but the Wild survived a Dallas shooting gallery on the ensuing power play and got to the locker room for the second intermission only trailing by two. They started the third period with just five defensemen, after Chisholm did not return from the locker room for the final 20 minutes. He blocked a shot in the middle period and left the game, after Chisholm had been a healthy scratch in Minnesota’s Saturday win over Buffalo. The Wild, playing against a Dallas penalty kill that has been strong all season, went 0-4 with the man-advantage. “I think that’s something that we’re still trying to keep growing, growing and try to have a little bit more dialed in,” Wild forward Matt Boldy said. “But they’re one of the best kills in the league for a reason, and we could’ve done a little bit better job on the power play, myself included.” After a one-night engagement in their road white sweaters, the Wild are back in Minnesota for their next three, beginning on Tuesday night when the Vegas Golden Knights come to visit. Vegas, which is leading the Pacific Division, has won their first two head-to-head meetings with Minnesota this season. Minnesota Wild center Frederick Gaudreau (89) yells to his teammate before a face-off in an NHL hockey game against the Dallas Stars in Dallas, Monday, March 24, 2025. 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