Minnesota Wild Find Spark Too Late in 2-1 Loss to Stars – Hockey Writers – Minnesota Wild

The Minnesota Wild stayed at home on Saturday evening, Nov. 16, to face their division rival, the Dallas Stars. It was going to be a big test as both teams always play hard, but the Wild were also without Jonas Brodin, Joel Eriksson Ek, and Mats Zuccarello. Brodin and Eriksson Ek are in the day-to-day lineup, while Zuccarello will be out for several weeks as he recovers from surgery.

Related: Minnesota Wild Must Overcome Injury Struggle

The Wild put Filip Gustavsson in net against Minnesota native Jake Oettinger. Liam Öhgren was back in the lineup after spending the past few weeks with the Iowa Wild, while Michael Milne was also making his NHL debut for the Wild. The Wild struggled for many games, the Stars came out victorious 2-1, although the Wild tried in the last minute to almost tie the game. The result moved the Wild to 11-3-3 and the Stars to 11-5-0.

Recap of the game

The Wild and Stars traded blows for most of the first half with good chances and a few fights. The scoring didn't start until the last three minutes of the period when Mason Marchment of the Stars deflected Ilya Lyubushkin's shot past Gustavsson to give their team a 1-0 lead. The Wild couldn't do anything in the final minutes, the first ended 1-0 to the Stars.

Although both sides had chances, the second half did not lead to anything, the Stars took a 1-0 lead in the third half. The Wild made some big mistakes in the second, but their goalie Gustavsson stood up and gave his team every opportunity to tie it.

In the third period, the Wild had a few chances but couldn't convert before Marchment scored his second of the night to put his team up 2-0 with less than 10 minutes to play in regulation. It looked like the Wild would be on their heels all night until their captain, Jared Spurgeon, put up a huge shot from Kirill Kaprizov's layup to bring their team back within one.

That effort gave his team a big boost, and the Wild dominated the final few minutes of the game, but it wasn't enough, as Oettinger did his part to give his team a 2-1 win. The Wild will not practice on Sunday but will practice on Monday before facing St. Louis Blues away on Tuesday, Nov. 19. The Stars will return home to face the Anaheim Ducks on Monday, Nov. 18.