Not everything that went wrong over the weekend in Dallas' Game 1 loss to Minnesota fixed itself Monday night in Game 2. Enough did, though, that the Stars, despite playing perhaps their worst game of the season on Saturday, are even in their first-round series against the Wild after a 4-2 win.
The Stars lacked juice Saturday, looking sloppy and lazy on both ends of the ice. No such issues occurred on Monday. The always-chippy Wild brought energy against, thanks in large part to the Brothers Foligno, Nick and Marcus, and the Stars matched them the whole way. In a game that featured 30 penalty minutes, it was Dallas that took the best advantage with Matt Duchene's game-winning goal coming on the power play.
When Jason Robertson's third-period goal at 7:09 provided the Stars with a two-goal lead, long-time Dallas analyst Darryl Reaugh hit the nail on the head.
"This just felt like an inevitability," he said as the replay showed Robertson deflecting Nils Lundqvist's point shot past Wild goalie Jesper Wallstedt.
The same thing could have been said Saturday for the Wild's final three or four goals. The thing is, for as much domination as Dallas exerted in the last few minutes of the second period and the first half of the third period, a Minnesota burst was all it took to return the game to a one-goal margin.
playoff jake oettinger redeemed pic.twitter.com/c6boWwQPY8
— x - faye (@hockey_hater) April 21, 2026
Hardly was the Wild rally on goalie Jake Oettinger. He made a pair of excellent saves in the waning minutes as Minnesota went on the power play with just under four minutes left. He stopped 29 of 31 shots on the night, bouncing back from Saturday's less-than-stellar effort.
It was only apt that after Dallas took a too-many-men penalty to give the Wild that final flourish, Minnesota returned the favor and took one of its own with 1:21 left, practically sealing the Stars' evening of the series. Wyatt Johnston made sure it was so when his clearance from in front of Oettinger rolled into a yawning net on the other end.
On a night when Dallas matched everything Minnesota brought, getting one back that way was the best way to end the game. Now things move to St. Paul for a de facto best-of-five series, and a series many expected to go seven games looks exactly like it will.
Add us as a preferred source on Google