Stars Beat Another Division Rival to Start the Season

The Dallas Stars took on the Minnesota Wild last night and were able to claim two more points against the division rivals. They have now won three straight games to begin the season and claimed six huge points against teams they will be in a tight race with towards the end of the season.

The Stars have had no shortage of goals, scoring five goals in all three games, creating a new franchise record. The first Star to score on home ice in the 2025-26 season was Esa Lindell just over five minutes into the first period. This came after a rocky start from Dallas, allowing several rapid fire shots on the goaltender. Jake Oettinger, who always seems to play his best against Minnesota, stood firm until the Stars got their puck possession under control and found their groove.

Wyatt Johnston would get his third goal of the season and third game straight with a goal, on the power-play due to a tripping call on Joel Eirksson Ek. In the dying minute of the first period, Ryan Hartman would be called for interference on Miro Heiskanen. The Stars started the second period on the power-play and Matt Duchene cashed in before the man-advantage ended, giving them an early 3-0 lead. The rest of the second period was uneventful, outside of the Stars committing two penalties. They penalty kill survived both of those, with one trickling into the third period.

This is just SICK 🥱🥱🥱 pic.twitter.com/qwVmAPL8rN

— Dallas Stars (@DallasStars) October 15, 2025

After the second Wild power-play commenced, chaos ensued shortly after. Jake Middleton found a vulnerable Duchene, skating with his head down through the middle of the ice and caught him, what head coach Glen Gulutzan would describe as "a little high." Alexander Petrovic took exception and stood up for his teammate, something that would not have happened last season. Middleton and Petrovic received fighting majors and Petrovic would also pick up and instigating minor and a ten minute misconduct, as well. 

Mere seconds after all of those penalties were squared away and the Wild got their third power-play, Eriksson Ek and Colin Blackwell would also find themselves with a trip to the box with minors that canceled each other out and the play was left at a man-advantage for Minnesota. Matt Boldy finally snapped Oettinger's potential shut out and got the Wild on the board. 

The Wild continued to build on the momentum of their power-play goal and the Stars lines out of sorts with the absence of Duchene and Petrovic. To add salt to the wound, Blackwell found himself in the box again when he was called for holding Zeev Buium in an awkward collision near the net. Kirill Kaprizov, who signed a massive contract just before the season, put the Wild within one. 

The remainder of the third period would be a nail biter for fans until the Wild pulled Filip Gustavsson to give them a 6-on-5 chance to tie the game up. However, that would be short lived when the Stars forced a turn over and Radek Faksa nailed the empty net with just under two minutes to go. The Wild opted not to put Gustavsson back in for the remainder of the game, leaving the net empty and the Stars were not done yet. Jason Robertson won a puck battle and flipped the puck to Roope Hintz who would get his first of the season.

Regulation would end with a score of 5-2 in favor of the Stars. With four players getting their first goal of the season, the Stars now have 11 skaters with goals through the first three games. Coming into the regular season, the depth seemed to be a lot less thin than it had in previous seasons, but with the early sample size, it seems that the depth scoring is there so far.

The Stars take on the Vancouver Canucks tomorrow night at the American Airlines Center in Dallas.

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