Stars shut out Wild 4-0, deny Minnesota redemption

John Hynes didn't watch the Wild's first matchup against the Stars, an 8-3 nightmare for the Wild during their season-long slump about two weeks before the coaching change.

But Hynes witnessed the gist of that game — and this Central Division rivalry — on Monday because the sequel ended up being the bonus scenes.

Dallas once again dominated the special-teams battle, denying six power plays and scoring twice shorthanded in a 4-0 rout at Xcel Energy Center that extended its point streak against the Wild to nine games (6-0-3).

"It's hard enough to win in this league," Hynes said. "You can't have those situations where you not only don't execute you give up goals."

The Stars will go for the season sweep on Wednesday at home vs. the Wild, who have lost five of their last six games.

"We're a better hockey team than what we're showing right now," Pat Maroon said.

Rookie goalie Matt Murray picked up his first NHL shutout in his season debut and only fourth career game, a routine-looking 23-save effort that included just two stops in the third period and none during the final 16 minutes, 53 seconds — the Wild fading after their 1-0 deficit quickly snowballed.

"We gotta learn to play in these tight games," Maroon said, "and learn to shut teams down when it's a 1-0 hockey game and try to get one there."

Tyler Seguin doubled Dallas' lead 1:28 into the third with the evening's lone 5-on-5 goal, a shot that squeaked through Wild goalie Marc-Andre Fleury and required video review to confirm it actually crossed the goal line.

Then Radek Faksa capitalized off a shorthanded rush at 8:22 after a Frederick Gaudreau turnover, and Jason Robertson converted on the power play (1-for-2) at 9:57. Fleury finished with 17 saves and remains tied with Patrick Roy for the second-most wins in NHL history at 551.

Putting on a special-teams clinic keeps working for Dallas; the Stars eliminated the Wild from the playoffs last season by icing the better power play (they were 9-for-24 and the Wild 4-for-22), and that's also what led to that blowout win on Nov. 12. The Wild surrendered a franchise-record five power-play goals to Dallas and a pair of shorthanded tallies.

In the rematch, the Wild had the chance to flip the script on the Stars because it was Dallas — not the Wild — that committed a rash of penalties.

There was a delay of game call before the 5-minute mark of the first period and then Mats Zuccarello was high-sticked. But early into that advantage, Seguin snagged the puck from Brock Faber and set up Roope Hintz for an uncontested one-timer at 9:16 that would set the tone for the night.

"It's unacceptable against a rival," Faber said. "It's unacceptable against any team in this league. You don't win hockey games giving up two shorthanded goals, and one of those falls on my shoulders obviously. It's frustrating."

The Wild had plenty of chances to respond, including a 47-second 5-on-3 chance soon after Hintz's goal, but they whiffed on all six of their power plays — the most blown chances in a game this season.

"We didn't want to shoot the puck," Hynes said. "We're just slow in our thought process and looking for a better play when the right play was to shoot the puck. So, there's things that I think are easily fixable."

The Wild are without their leading scorer Kirill Kaprizov, who's still nursing an upper-body injury, but the Stars aren't completely healthy, either.

Murray played in place of normal backup Scott Wedgewood, who had rattled off 10 consecutive starts while Lakeville's Jake Oettinger heals an injury. And Dallas' best defender Miro Heiskanen is also hurt.

But the Stars had no trouble protecting their net, whether they were at full strength or not.

"It doesn't matter who's in and out for our lineup," Faber said. "It doesn't matter who's in and out for their lineup. We have to be better, and that was a horrible showing. Shot ourselves in the foot.

"We've got to be better next time we play them."