Dallas Stars’ Game 1 woes continue in loss to Minnesota Wild

Dallas–an unfamiliar feeling minnesota wild Came at the cost of an all-too-familiar experience Jake Ottinger and this dallas stars.

Wild win 6-1 Saturday marked the first time they have won a playoff game since April 17, 2023, in Game 1 of the Western Conference quarterfinals, when they beat, you guessed it, the Stars.

Even the loss from three years ago is part of a much larger pattern for the Stars. This Game 1 loss in front of their own fans at the American Airlines Center marked the ninth time in their last 11 playoff series that they lost the opening contest.

Dallas loses Game 1 colorado avalanche His streak extended to eight consecutive Game 1 losses, dating back to four goals in last year’s quarterfinal round. Stars broke that streak with victory in the semi-final round winnipeg jets and won its second consecutive Game 1 in the Western Conference Finals vs. edmonton oilers.

But a year later, here they are, down a 1-0 series lead.

“It’s a long series, it’s best-of-seven and it’s one game,” Stars defenseman miro heiskanen he said when asked about his team’s Game 1 struggles. “We’ve got to be better than that, but still have a good chance to win it. It’s just one game, but we’ve got to be better. We’ve got to move on and get back into it.”

When did the stars’ latest defeat start? Matt Zuccarello And matt boldy The Wild’s first power play executed a series of tic-tac-toe passes that led to an open joel erickson one Beat Oettinger from the low post with 15:35 remaining in the first game to take a 1-0 lead. Eriksen Ek’s early strike was the first of four unanswered goals, three of which came in the second period.

Oettinger didn’t even allow four goals in two full periods, raising questions about whether he could be pulled again after what happened last season. In the 2025 Western Conference Finals, he allowed two goals on Edmonton’s first two shots in a Game 5 loss. The consequences of the ensuing decision to fire Oettinger – as well as Dallas’ loss in the conference finals for the third consecutive year – contributed to the Stars firing former coach Peter DeBoer and hiring Oilers assistant Glenn Gulutzan.

Advancing to three consecutive conference finals solidified that the Stars are now in the championship window. But it also raised many questions, including Oettinger’s performance.

“I think the last goal was bad, but I think I did good things and I think there are some things I could have been better at,” Oettinger said.

Gulutzan said he never thought about firing Oettinger after the Wild went 4–0.

“There was nothing in our goal setting for me,” Gulutzan said. “For me, it was definitely on our special teams that needed to be better, and our 5-on-5 play wasn’t good enough.”

With less than five minutes left in the second period, the Stars increased the lead to 4-1. jason robertson Scored on extra-skater advantage. Robertson’s goal was the first moment after the initial puck drop that generated an audible noise beyond the groans of the Dallas fans.

Those groans would eventually come back when the Stars missed chances like when wyat johnson And Mikko Rantanen Were on a 2-on-1, only for Johnson to catch the puck and fire a shot past the Wild rookie goaltender jesper wallstad 2:44 left. Wallstadt got the win with 27 saves.

“It’s for sure we didn’t get our forecheck roll,” Rantanen said. “That’s why they were quickly taking out the pakodas from their [defensive] Zone, and we started it basically at the end of the third and second periods. That’s definitely one thing; “We want to get them to play more defensively because they certainly dominated us for most of the second period.”

The Stars’ anemic Game 1 asked familiar questions about their offense in the playoffs. The Stars scored five times in their final four games – all losses – against the Oilers last spring.

Did Gulutzan see anything about his team’s offensive struggles in Game 1 that reminded him of last year’s conference finals?

“It’s quite simple … if you’re not taking over the puck and winning some battles, you’re not going anywhere,” Gulutzan said. “And when there’s a lot of energy out there on the ice, and you’re on the wrong end of it, bad things happen and it affects us a little bit.”

The series resumes on Monday with Game 2 with either the Wild getting one step closer to winning their first playoff series since 2015 or the Stars tying the score before heading to St. Paul, Minnesota for Games 3 and 4.

Of the last eight series in which the Stars lost the first game, they rallied to win six of those series and advance to the next round.

Heiskanen, Oettinger and Rantanen all talked about how stars can benefit from their past experiences of coming from behind. But Dallas has also seen how one loss can cost a series.

“I think everyone understands the urgency,” Gulutzan said. “This is an experienced group. They understand the urgency.”