<\/p>\n
Dallas Stars center Matt Duchene (95) slams his body into the glass after scoring on Minnesota Wild goaltender Jesper Wallstedt in the second period in Game 2 of a first-round NHL hockey playoff series in Dallas, April 20, 2026.<\/p>\n
Tom Fox\/The Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n
The\u00a0series<\/a> is even heading to Minnesota.<\/p>\n The Stars <\/a>responded from a flat performance to open the playoffs with a 4-2 victory in Game 2 <\/a>over the Minnesota Wild on Monday at American Airlines Center.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Wyatt Johnston and Matt Duchene scored early, and the Stars\u2019 defense, led by goalie Jake Oettinger<\/a>, held the Wild to four fewer goals than they scored Saturday. Brock Faber scored a pair of goals, but Dallas\u2019 Jason Robertson<\/a> scored the game-winner. Johnston added an empty-net goal with 50 seconds to play.<\/p>\n The win was Stars coach Glen\u00a0Gulutzan\u2019s first in the playoffs as a head coach.<\/p>\n Here are five takeaways from the Stars\u2019 first win of the postseason:<\/p>\n Stars deliver much-needed response<\/p>\n Despite falling 6-1 in the series opener, the Stars weren\u2019t too worried.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Make Dallas News a preferred source so your search results prioritize writing by actual people, not AI.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Add Preferred Source<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Dallas has lost Game 1 in nine of its last 11 playoff series, dating to 2022. In seven of those series, they\u2019ve gone on to win Game 2.<\/p>\n The Stars came out prepared to respond, putting together a far more convincing start than Saturday, when they fell behind 4-0.<\/p>\n The penalty kill showed up early, as did\u00a0Oettinger, who made nearly a dozen saves in the first period. Dallas capitalized on a lucky bounce to get on the board, something they weren\u2019t able to do Saturday.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Once Dallas took its first lead of the series in the second period, it was able to hold on, thanks to a far better performance from its defense and penalty kill.<\/p>\n Minnesota has still never taken a 2-0 lead in a playoff series in its history. Fortunately for the Stars, they head to St. Paul on even footing.<\/p>\n Jason Robertson makes early statement\u00a0<\/p>\n Robertson has shown up early in this series.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n After scoring Dallas\u2019 lone goal in Game 1 on Saturday, Robertson scored on a deflection midway through the third period to give the Stars a 3-1 lead and some insurance to prevent a Minnesota comeback.<\/p>\n Faber scored his second goal of the game minutes later, making Robertson\u2019s the game-winner.<\/p>\n The Dallas forward, who tied for the team lead in goals with 45 this season, has seven goals in his last seven games.<\/p>\n The Stars will need him to keep delivering this postseason, but he\u2019s off to a strong start.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Jake\u00a0Oettinger saves series<\/p>\n Oettinger quickly ended the conversation over who should\u2019ve started Game 2.<\/p>\n After allowing five goals in Game 1, the Stars\u00a0netminder came out sharp and single-handedly kept the game tied through one period.\u00a0<\/p>\n Oettinger first made a save on a Grade-A chance by Danila Yurov, which immediately led to Johnston\u2019s goal at the other end. Minutes later, he robbed Matt Boldy twice \u2014 once on a point-blank glove save and again with his glove on the breakaway.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n The Stars and Wild were tied at 1-1 after a period. If it weren\u2019t for Oettinger, who made 11 saves in the opening frame, it would\u2019ve been 4-1 at least.<\/p>\n Dallas\u2019 goalie continued his history of responding well in the playoffs, with a 19-8 record now after a postseason loss. He finished with 28 saves.<\/p>\n Stars turn special teams tides in their favor<\/p>\n After giving up five power play goals in their last two meetings with the Wild between the regular season and postseason, the Stars\u2019 penalty kill locked in.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Dallas didn\u2019t give up a goal on four Minnesota power plays Monday. Ahead of the game,\u00a0Gulutzan said the penalty kill was their focus<\/a> and part of the reason they brought in rookie Arttu Hyry, a skilled penalty killer, to make his NHL debut.<\/p>\n Hyry finished with 40 seconds of shorthanded ice time, contributing to Dallas\u2019 effort.<\/p>\n The Stars also had to kill off a too-many-men-on-the-ice penalty with 3:44 left in regulation and just a one-goal lead.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the Stars\u2019 power play scored again. After Robertson put the group on the board last game,\u00a0Duchene finished a flawless pass from Mikko Rantanen in the second period to give the Stars a 2-0 advantage.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Johnston\u2019s second of the game, which was into an empty net, was also technically on the power play.<\/p>\n Special teams may dictate this series, as they have in the first two games. The Stars appear to be getting on the right side of that battle.<\/p>\n Colin\u00a0Blackwell, Foligno brothers set tone for physicality<\/p>\n What was surprisingly absent in Game 1 \u2014 anticipated physicality between these two teams \u2014 returned with no problem in Game 2.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Both teams delivered their fair share of blows to the other.<\/p>\n Stars forward Colin\u00a0Blackwell, who is just 5-8, delivered a booming open-ice hit<\/a> to Minnesota forward Yakov Trenin, the NHL\u2019s leader in hits, in the first period.\u00a0<\/p>\n Trenin was injured on the play and skated off the ice bleeding from his face. He never returned.<\/p>\n Despite his teammates coming to his defense and not liking the hit, it was legal.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n By signing up, you agree to our Terms Of Use<\/a> and acknowledge that your information will be used as described in our Privacy Policy<\/a>.<\/p>\n Two Wild players responded in the second period. Brothers Nick and Marcus\u00a0Foligno each took penalties on rather aggressive plays. Nick elbowed Nils Lundkvist, leading to Duchene’s goal. Marcus, who was interfered with by Thomas Harley, received a double-minor for a dangerous play where he put Harley in a headlock and slammed his head into the boards.<\/p>\n So many post-whistle scrums broke out after the play that there weren\u2019t enough officials to separate them all.<\/p>\n As the series heads to Minnesota and nears its second half, the intensity may only further ramp up from here.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dallas Stars center Matt Duchene (95) slams his body into the glass after scoring on Minnesota Wild goaltender…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":259030,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[102,104,103,5964,89489,90780],"class_list":["post-259029","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-headlines","tag-dallas-news","tag-listicle","tag-tp-american-airlines-center","tag-tp-nhl-playoffs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259029","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=259029"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259029\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/259030"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=259029"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=259029"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=259029"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/p>\n
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