DALLAS — The Wild finally weren't regulars to the penalty box, but better discipline didn't cure their scoring woes.
In another tepid display by their offense, the Wild were stymied 4-1 by the Stars on Wednesday in front of 18,274 at American Airlines Center to get swept on their two-game road trip out of the All-Star break.
This result didn't help the team get any closer to Dallas, which extended its lead atop the Central Division and is now a whopping 12 points ahead of the Wild.
But the bigger cause for concern is how this slide has muddled the playoff race behind the Wild: They remain even with Colorado at 58 points, but the Avalanche bumped the Wild from the third seed to the final wild card spot in the Western Conference because they've played one fewer game. Another wild card candidate Calgary also has 58 points, and Nashville isn't too far away with 54.
What's more, on deck is a rigorous homestand that starts Thursday against Vegas.
Lakeville's Jake Oettinger improved to 4-0 in his career against the Wild while making 39 saves.
In front of Oettinger was an opportunistic Stars offense that required fewer goals than they actually recorded.
That's because of the funk that's impeded the Wild's scoring ability. Not only do they have the fewest goals at 5-on-5 over the last month in the NHL, but they were limited to two or less for the seventh time since they were shut out Jan. 8 by St. Louis (a span of 12 games).
Cognizant of this issue, the Wild scrambled their lines, reuniting last season's top trio of Kirill Kaprizov, Ryan Hartman and Mats Zuccarello and putting Marcus Foligno back with Jordan Greenway and Joel Eriksson Ek.
But the tweaks didn't ignite the offense.
Instead, the Wild very much looked like a team feeling its swoon: This was the Wild's fifth loss in their last seven games.
Still, they were even with Dallas after the first period when Filip Gustavsson, in his first start since Jan. 21, racked up 14 saves of his 33 total saves.
But the Wild began to unravel in the second.
Only 23 seconds into the period, Jamie Benn got behind the Wild to tuck the puck by Gustavsson. Then at 5:40, the Stars doubled their lead when Radek Faksa finished off a 2-on-1 pass from Tyler Seguin.
By 10:54, Dallas tacked on a third goal, a deflection by Jani Hakanpaa off a Roope Hintz shot.
With 1:44 to go in the second, the Wild ruined Oettinger's shutout bid on the power play when Kaprizov directed the puck to Eriksson Ek in front of the net for a slam-dunk redirect that rang up as Eriksson Ek's 19 goal of the season. Eriksson Ek's 19 points on the power play matched his career high set last season, and the assist pushed Kaprizov's point streak to seven games; he has nine points during this run.
The Wild did capitalize again before the period ended when Hartman sent the puck behind Oettinger, but the goal was waved off because of goaltender interference; Greenway was in the paint.
Overall, the Wild finished 1-for-3 on the power play while the Stars went 0-for-1, this after the Wild committed six penalties in the 3-2 letdown Monday at Arizona.
