Minnesota Wild Find Spark Too Late in 2-1 Loss to Stars

The Minnesota Wild remained home on Saturday evening, Nov. 16, to face their division rival, the Dallas Stars. It was already going to be a big test as these two teams always play each other hard, but the Wild were also without Jonas Brodin, Joel Eriksson Ek, and Mats Zuccarello. Brodin and Eriksson Ek are listed as day-to-day, while Zuccarello will be out for a few weeks while he recovers from surgery. 

The Wild had Filip Gustavsson in net to face off against Minnesota native Jake Oettinger for the Stars. Liam Öhgren was back in the lineup after spending the last couple of weeks with the Iowa Wild, and Michael Milne was also making his NHL debut for the Wild. The Wild struggled for a lot of the game, and the Stars came out victorious, 2-1, despite a last-minute effort by the Wild to nearly tie the game. This result moved the Wild to 11-3-3 and the Stars to 11-5-0. 

Game Recap 

The Wild and Stars went end-to-end through most of the first period with some decent chances and a couple of fights. The scoring didn’t start until the final three minutes of the period when Mason Marchment for the Stars deflected an Ilya Lyubushkin shot to beat Gustavsson and give their team a 1-0 lead. The Wild couldn’t do anything in the final few minutes, and the first ended 1-0 in favor of the Stars. 

Despite some chances for both sides, the second period remained scoreless, and the Stars carried a 1-0 lead into the third period. The Wild made some big mistakes in the second, but their goaltender Gustavsson stood strong and gave his team every chance to tie it. 

In the third period, the Wild had a few chances but couldn’t convert before Marchment got his second of the night to put his team up 2-0 with less than 10 minutes to play in regulation. It seemed like the Wild would play on their heels the rest of the night until their captain, Jared Spurgeon, stepped up with a big shot from the point that Kirill Kaprizov tipped in to get their team back within one. 

That effort gave his team a big boost, and the Wild controlled the final few minutes of the game, but it wasn’t enough, as Oettinger did his part to get his team the 2-1 win. The Wild will not practice on Sunday but will on Monday before they face the St. Louis Blues on the road on Tuesday, Nov. 19. The Stars will head back home to face the Anaheim Ducks on Monday, Nov. 18.