Jason Robertson recorded his second consecutive hat trick and Minnesota native Jake Oettinger made 32 saves to lift the Dallas Stars to a 6-3 victory over the Wild on Sunday in Saint Paul, Minn.
Robertson’s back-to-back hat tricks give him eight tallies in his last five games. He became the fourth active NHL player to score three or more goals in consecutive games — along with Washington Capitals star Alex Ovechkin (three times, the last in 2019-20), the Florida Panthers’ Noel Acciari (2019-20) and the Nashville Predators’ Filip Forsberg (2016-17).
Joe Pavelski and captain Jamie Benn each collected a goal and an assist, and Minnesota native Riley Tufte netted his first career NHL goal for the Stars, who have won four in a row.
Roope Hintz and defenseman John Klingberg each notched a pair of assists as Dallas improved to 14-4-1 in its last 19 games.
Kirill Kaprizov scored twice in a 1:44 stretch late in the third period and Nico Sturm also tallied for the Wild, who have dropped eight of their last 10 games after a scintillating 11-1-1 run.
Minnesota’s Kaapo Kahkonen yielded four goals on 21 shots before being relieved by Cam Talbot (three saves) midway into the second period.
Dallas evened the contest at 1-1 on the power play with three seconds to play in the first period. Tyler Seguin skated into the blue paint before the puck caromed out to Pavelski, who backhanded a shot that banked off Wild defenseman Dmitry Kulikov and past Kahkonen.
Minnesota challenged the goal, but officials deemed Frederick Gaudreau’s contact caused Seguin’s run-in with Kahkonen before Pavelski netted his 22nd goal of the season.
The Wild’s failed challenge resulted in another power play for the Stars.
Dallas took advantage of the opportunity and claimed a 2-1 lead at 1:38 of the second period. Klingberg’s shot from the point handcuffed Kahkonen, allowing Robertson to clean up the rebound from the right doorstep.
The Stars doubled the advantage just 95 seconds later as Tufte fended off Mats Zuccarello in front of the net before muscling the puck past Kahkonen. The 23-year-old Tufte was playing in his ninth career NHL game.
Robertson gave Dallas a 4-1 lead midway into the second period after his wrist shot from along the top of the left circle beat Kahkonen.
Kaprizov gave the Stars a scare by scoring his team-leading 27th and 28th goals of the season. The reigning Calder Memorial Trophy recipient has nine points (four goals, five assists) in three meetings with Dallas in 2021-22.
Benn and Robertson each scored into an empty net to seal the win.
–Field Level Media
