MINNEAPOLIS — The Wild and Stars are among the top teams in the Central Division, and they both played like it.
Not until the third period did first-place Dallas finally run away 4-1 on Thursday in front of 19,316 at Xcel Energy Center to snap the Wild's seven-game win streak at home.
Overall, this was only the Wild's second loss in their last nine games and fifth over the past 18.
They're eight points shy of the Stars, who reached 50 points with their third straight victory.
Dallas rookie Wyatt Johnston broke a 1-1 stalemate 3 minutes, 29 seconds into the third to cap off a two-point effort and give the Stars a lead they wouldn't relinquish in a battle that felt like a playoff game — much more than these teams' previous meeting, a 6-5 shootout win for the Wild on Dec. 4 after they blew a four-goal lead in the third period.
In the rematch, the Wild avoided another collapse.
Actually, they played catch up after Dallas opened the scoring on the power play at 7:13 of the first period on a Tyler Seguin deflection off a Ryan Suter point shot.
But that advantage wouldn't make it out of the period.
With 2:51 left in the first, the Wild pulled even on Kirill Kaprizov's 20th goal of the season, a shot from behind the goal line that banked in off Dallas goaltender and Lakeville native Jake Oettinger.
That goal extended Kaprizov's point streak on home ice to 13 games, a run in which he's accumulated 23 points, and Kaprizov is one game shy of matching the Wild record; Marian Gaborik had a 14-game point streak at Xcel Energy Center in 2007-08. Jon Merrill picked up the lone assist on Kaprizov's goal.
Kaprizov became only the third Wild player to record 20 goals in each of his first three seasons with the team, joining Eric Staal (2016-19) and Brian Rolston (2205-08).
The goal was also the winger's 55th in 2022, which is tied with the Stars' Jason Robertson for fourth in the NHL; Kaprizov also has the fourth-most points in 2022 at 117.
Marc-Andre Fleury, in his first start in more than a week, kept a 1-1 tie intact in the second by turning aside 10 shots from Dallas: A glove stop vs. Joe Pavelski was the flashiest of his 39 total saves in his first loss since Dec. 9.
One of Oettinger's best came against Merrill, who flung a backhander on net after he exited the penalty box. Oettinger racked up 24 saves and also received help from the post.
After Johnston scored earlier in the third, Jordan Greenway planted a shot off the post not long after a Wild power play expired; the Wild went 0-for-2 with the man advantage. During their other look, Matt Boldy also had a shot hit the post and a Kaprizov shot knocked Oettinger's stick out of his hand.
This was only the third time in the last 10 games the power play failed to convert.
The same can't be said for the Stars.
They finished 2-for-3 after adding an insurance goal on the power play with 6:34 to go in the third, a redirect by Jamie Benn on a Jason Robertson shot before Seguin flipped the puck into an empty net at 17:58. Seguin is up to 43 points in 39 career games vs. the Wild.
