Wild booed off ice in Dallas whipping; Duhaime ejected
It was a stressful Sunday night in St. Paul as the Dallas Stars obliterated the Minnesota Wild 8-3 behind five power play goals and two shorthanded goals
As Wild beat writer Michael Russo described in a post on X, the play by the Wild in the first period was “heinous.” And it really didn't improve in the second or third periods as Dallas went 5-of-8 on the power play while the Wild were 1-of-5 with the man advantage.
Joe Pavelski scored 57 seconds into the game -- and just seven seconds into a power play -- after Brandon Duhaime was whistled for interference less than a minute into the game.
About nine minutes later the Stars got a shorthanded goal from Radek Faksa after Vinny Lettieri let a puck bounce off the side boards directly to Faksa who then beat Marc-Andre Fleury in a one-on-one break.
After a goal by Duhaime, the Stars made it 3-1 when Matt Duchene got behind Mats Zuccarello and scored after a feed got by three Wild sticks to give him an opening right in front of the net.
If you’re keeping track, that’s a bad penalty followed by awful defense in front of the net followed by a terrible penalty kill that featured a turnover that led to a shorty. Not exactly championship caliber hockey on display in the State of Hockey.
Nov 12, 2023; Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA; Dallas Stars center Joe Pavelski (16) scores on Minnesota Wild goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury (29) in the first period at Xcel Energy Center.
Credit: Matt Blewett-USA TODAY Sports
Lettieri scored with 48 seconds left in the first period only to have the Wild give up another power play goal just 2 minutes, 34 seconds into the second period, this one scored by Wyatt Johntson, for a 4-2 cushion.
Evgenii Dadonov took advantage on another power play after a tripping penalty on Fleury to give Dallas a 5-2 lead before the Wild trimmed the hole to 5-3 on Mats Zuccarello's goal with 4:01 left in the second.
It then got ugly as Duhaime was ejected and given a five-minute major for a boarding penalty that saw Thomas Harley leave the ice with a blood-stained visor after Duhaime checked from behind into the boards.
It happened with 1:46 left in the second period so Dallas carried the five-minute power play into the third period and they took advantage with back-to-back goals by Jason Robertson to push the margin to 7-3.
Johnston then scored Dallas' second shorthanded goal of the night with just over two minutes left in the game for the eight-goal thumping in St. Paul.
