Short-handed Wild begin homestand with victory over Stars

Sarah McLellan, The Minnesota Star Tribune on Dec 11, 2025

Published in Hockey

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ST. PAUL, Minn. — Even decimated, the Wild didn’t let a marquee matchup go to waste.

They rallied to overtake the Stars, 5-2, Thursday night at Grand Casino Arena for their latest statement win.

Marcus Johansson broke a 2-2 tie 8 minutes, 40 seconds into the third period after Zach Bogosian scored the tying goal late in the second period with his first of the season.

Matt Boldy skated in an empty-netter at 18:29 for his third point of the game before Johansson added another off his backhand from Wild territory with 50 seconds to go.

This continued their curious trend of the Wild struggling against the bottom of the league but surging against the top: The Wild defeated top-10 teams in Anaheim, Colorado, Carolina, the New York Islanders and Vegas before adding Dallas to their résumé.

They were back home to begin a four-game homestand after splitting their last road trip because of back-to-back losses to last-place Calgary and Vancouver.

The Wild had to come from behind twice after first getting down on an unlucky bounce on a Stars power play. They answered back on Joel Eriksson Ek’s second goal in as many games before giving up their first short-handed goal of the season to trail 2-1.

Dallas capitalized again, but the goal was called back for being off-sides — a timely coach’s challenge by the Wild en route to their comeback, which was helped along by Boldy’s two assists.

Aside from setting up Eriksson Ek, Boldy threw a saucer pass to Johansson that Johansson buried for his second straight third-period game-winner.

Filip Gustavsson finished with 16 saves in his second consecutive start, as the Wild stopped the goalie rotation between him and Jesper Wallstedt that had been going for 14 games.

Jake Oettinger had 28 stops for the Stars in his first career regulation loss to the Wild after starting 8-0-3.

The Wild were missing five regulars, with Mats Zuccarello and Jake Middleton going on injured reserve after they were hurt Monday at Seattle.

Marco Rossi, Marcus Foligno and Vinnie Hinostroza also remain sidelined; while Rossi is on the ice, neither Foligno nor Hinostroza is skating.

How it happened

Dallas runs on a less-is-more offense, and the Wild were acquainted with that style early.

They outshot the Stars 9-0, but a hooking penalty by Ryan Hartman gave Dallas the chanced to flip the momentum on its only power play, and the Stars did just that: They made good on their first puck on net, a wind-up by Jason Robertson that clipped Boldy’s stick before eluding Gustavsson 9:32 into the first period.

Boldy spearheaded the Wild’s response, getting behind Dallas defenseman Thomas Harley and flinging a puck off Oettinger’s pad right to Eriksson Ek for the put-back with 3:50 remaining in the first.

But the Stars continued to shine on special teams.

After Gustavsson covered up a puck on the power play to necessitate a whistle, the Wild lost the ensuing faceoff and Miro Heiskanen to drain a point shot 10:19 into the second and give Dallas two goals on a measly nine shots; the Wild went 0 for 3 on the power play.

Turning point

The Stars sunk their next shot, too, courtesy of Wyatt Johnston, but the Wild challenged for offside, and a video review showed Robertson did precede the puck into the offensive zone to negate the goal.

Instead of chasing 3-1, the Wild overcame their 2-1 deficit with 2:30 left in the second after they worked an offensive-zone faceoff win to Bogosian for a one-timer that sailed by Oettinger’s blocker.

Then in the third, Boldy flung the puck at Johansson, who one-timed in the feed to remain clutch for the Wild; Johansson also netted the go-ahead goal in the third period of the Wild’s 4-1 win over the Kraken on Monday.

His 11 goals match his output from each of his previous two seasons.

Key stat

This was the Wild’s first regulation victory in 16 games against Dallas; their last was Nov. 18, 2021.

What it means

A competitive game against Dallas would have been impressive with the Wild at full strength let alone playing a patchwork lineup.

Despite losing two more key players to injury in Zuccarello and Middleton, the Wild didn’t sag. They were a challenge for the Stars, who are a unique test since they have elite offensive talent but are stingy with their shots.

As such, the Wild looked like they were in control more often, but the margin of error was razor-thin; the Wild experienced that, getting stung twice on the power play — theirs and Dallas’.

But the Wild still held their own, suggesting a close battle if the teams do reunite in the playoffs (they’d meet in the first round based on the current standings).

Up next

The Wild kick off a weekend back-to-back Saturday afternoon against the Senators.