Stars dominate Wild 7-4 in peculiar final game before NHL shutdown

The NHL’s Christmas Break came early, so the Stars delivered a present to their fans.

During the team’s final game before a league-wide shutdown due to COVID-19, the Stars beat Minnesota 7-4 on Monday night. It was the team’s second straight win after enduring a five-game losing streak, and will be its last game until Dec. 27′s scheduled meeting against Nashville.

As the Stars were playing the Wild, the NHL and NHLPA announced that the league would shut down facilities from Dec. 22-25 and re-open them for practices on Dec. 26. The decision wiped out Thursday’s game in Chicago, one day after Wednesday’s game against Winnipeg was postponed.

So Dallas made sure its final pre-Christmas game was a good one.

Six different players scored goals as Miro Heiskanen (one goal, one assist), Jason Robertson (two assists) and Denis Gurianov (two assists) each had two-point nights. In addition to Heiskanen, Joe Pavelski, Esa Lindell (shorthanded), Tyler Seguin, Roope Hintz (power play), Jacob Peterson and Jamie Benn (empty-net) also scored.

Dallas has now won 10 of its last 11 games at the American Airlines Center and set a new season-high for goals scored by putting six past Minnesota goaltender Cam Talbot. The Stars also avenged an earlier 7-2 loss to the Wild in November.

Monday’s game felt peculiar, even before the chaos of the first period led to another early goal from the top line, before Lindell scored his first goal of the season, and before the Stars power play scored for the fourth time in the last two games.

Minnesota pulling its goalie with 9:30 left in the third period, Jordie Benn holding brother Jamie back during a fight, and more than 90 seconds of a 4 on 3 Stars power play only added to the absurdity.

It was the only game on the NHL’s docket, and a third of the league’s teams were shut down due to positive coronavirus test results. The other four games on the schedule were scrapped and Monday’s Wild-Stars game carried a feeling that transported onlookers back to March 11, 2020.

The NHL shut down the next day. It will do the same on Wednesday.

Unlike the 2020 shutdown, the Stars will enter this one on a high note, having back-to-back wins over Chicago and Minnesota taking them into the hiatus, although in a worse spot in the standings.

Two years ago, Dallas was mired in a six-game losing streak before the season’s suspension. This year, it recently emerged from a lengthy rut that plummeted them down the Western Conference standings and out of a playoff spot.

Monday’s win offered the Stars bullet points to build on.

Gurianov was dynamic. He created Seguin’s goal by driving a defender wide and dropping a pass to on oncoming Seguin. Dallas coaches have asked Gurianov to do this more often, and he’s one of the few players in the league that can do it successfully and consistently. Gurianov also set up Peterson’s goal after a Minnesota turnover in its own end.

Seguin scored a goal that looked like one of his old ones. His goal assisted by Gurianov was the eighth of the season, but only the third that didn’t come on a deflection or redirection. Seguin saw the top corner on the near post and picked it. Seguin also hit a post when the Wild pulled their goalie midway through the third period.

Defensemen chipped in on the scoresheet. The Stars are a team reliant on their defensemen for scoring, and they’ve recently found the back of the net. John Klingberg did on Saturday against Chicago. Lindell and Heiskanen did on Monday.

The Stars will have to wait until after Christmas to prove they can build on Monday’s win.

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By Matthew DeFranks

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