The Wild were routed by the Stars again and for the same reason.
Special teams continue to decide this Central Division rivalry, especially on Monday when the Wild power play went a grim 0-for-6 and surrendered two goals in a 4-0 blitz by Dallas at Xcel Energy Center at the beginning of a home-and-home that finishes Wednesday.
In his season debut and fourth career game, Stars goalie Matt Murray’s 23 saves led to his first NHL shutout.
Murray played in place of Lakeville’s Jake Oettinger, who’s hurt, and normal backup Scott Wedgewood, who rattled off 10 consecutive starts after Oettinger was injured.
Almost a third of Murray’s stops (7) came while the Stars were shorthanded, and this matchup becoming a special-teams battle wasn’t surprising.
After all, that’s what happened in the playoffs last season when Dallas eliminated the Wild in six games: The Stars went 9-for-24 and the Wild just 4-for-22. Then on Nov. 12, the Wild gave up a franchise-record five power-play goals and a pair of shorthanded tallies in an 8-3 meltdown to Dallas.
In the rematch on Monday, it was the Stars who took more trips to the penalty box but that didn’t slow them down.
Their penalty killers actually outscored the Wild power play when Tyler Seguin picked the puck off Brock Faber and set up Roope Hintz for an uncontested one-timer in front of the net 9:16 in the first period.
A tripping penalty against Seguin 1 minute later gave the Wild a 5-on-3 chance for 47 seconds, but that extra advantage didn’t help the Wild power play.
Neither did an opportunity that carried over from the first to the second, nor another re-do later in the second.
Finally in the third, the Wild power play was on the ice for the goal, but it didn’t belong to them.
After a Seguin shot squeaked through Marc-Andre Fleury 1:28 into the period to double Dallas’ lead, Radek Faksa served up a second Stars shorthanded goal off the rush at 8:22.
Overall, the 0-for-6 showing by the Wild power play was the most looks they blanked on in a game this season.
This letdown also comes on the heels of one of the power play’s better efforts of late; Matt Boldy scored twice in the 4-3 overtime comeback at Columbus on Saturday.
As for the Wild penalty kill, that wasn’t as woeful as that Nov. 12 blowout, but the team didn’t exit unscathed.
In its second try, Dallas’s power play converted at 9:57 of the third on a Jason Robertson shot to polish off the Stars’ sixth victory in their last 10 meetings with the Wild.
Fleury finished with 17 saves and remains tied with Patrick Roy for the second-most wins in NHL history at 551.