Wild battle Central-leading Stars evenly before fading in third period to lose 4-1

The Stars threw way more shots on net, had a better power play and dominated the faceoff circle.

Eventually, those mismatches caught up to the Wild, inflating what felt like a Central Division playoff battle into a 4-1 clinic by first-place Dallas on Thursday in front of 19,316 at Xcel Energy Center. The loss ended the Wild's seven-game home winning streak and was only their second loss in the past nine overall.

"There's not a lot of room for error with a good team like that," Jordan Greenway said.

Opportunistic hockey is usually key to the Wild's success, but the Stars turned the tables on them.

Before Tyler Seguin flipped a puck into an empty net with 2 minutes, 2 seconds to go, Dallas scored three times off deflections — including the go-ahead tally from rookie Wyatt Johnston 3:29 into the third period that broke a 1-1 stalemate that was in place since the first period.

"If you look around the league, there's a lot of goals scored that way," said goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, who dropped his first game in four starts despite matching his season high in saves with 39; Lakeville native and Stars goalie Jake Oettinger had a much lighter workload, making 23 stops.

"A lot of time on the perimeter for us," Sam Steel said. "That's a lesson learned. Just get more pucks to the net."

But that wasn't the only discrepancy.

Dallas capitalized twice during three power plays, starting with a tip from Seguin 7:13 into the first period, while the Wild blanked on their two tries.

They managed just three shots with the man advantage. One of their best chances all night didn't even register as a shot on net, as Greenway hit the post in the third period not long after a power play expired.

"I should have put one in," Greenway said. "We had opportunities, and we just didn't get it done."

The Wild's lone goal was actually a fortuitous sequence, with Kirill Kaprizov's heave from behind the goal line banking in off Oettinger at 17:09 of the first to send both teams back to the drawing board.

With goal No. 20 on the season, Kaprizov extended his point streak on home ice to 13 games, a run in which he's accumulated 23 points.

He is one game shy of matching the Wild record; Marian Gaborik had a 14-game point streak at Xcel Energy Center in 2007-08. Kaprizov also 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 (2005-08).

But that didn't ignite the Wild.

"We got pucks up to the top and we had lanes to shoot [and] we didn't," coach Dean Evason said. "We thought offensively we were doing the right things, but then we'd shovel it back down low where they're strong and then we didn't get anything going. It was a bit of a frustrating game in that aspect."

A strong second period by Fleury kept both sides even until the Stars' smaller victories began to add up in the third.

Johnston's goal came after the Wild lost a faceoff in their zone. They actually won a shorthanded draw later in the period but couldn't hang onto the puck, which ended up getting redirected in by Dallas captain Jamie Benn at 13:26.

Ultimately, the Wild nabbed just 30% of faceoffs, going 19-for-64 vs. the Stars.

"We win the faceoff back, they compete, find it, get it back to their group and score a goal and we don't," Evason said. "We have to win those battles."

Those letdowns led to an outcome that looked more lopsided than the action was, but the impact on the standings is legit: Dallas is now eight points ahead of the Wild in the division.

"We hung in there for most of the night," Fleury said. "It's good to measure ourselves to those good teams. We had a couple posts and out. They had a couple posts and in. It's not much that makes a difference at the end."