Dallas Stars' Game 1 Woes Continue in Loss to Minnesota Wild The Dallas Stars suffered another Game 1 setback in the Western Conference quarterfinals, falling 6-1 to the Minnesota Wild at the American Airlines Center. The loss marked the ninth time in the Stars’ past 11 playoff series that they have dropped the opening contest, extending their streak of Game 1 losses to eight straight since 2023. The Wild’s victory, their first Game 1 win since April 17, 2023, when they also defeated the Stars, added to a long-standing pattern of frustration for Dallas in the postseason. The Stars’ struggles began early in the first period when Mats Zuccarello and Matt Boldy orchestrated a series of passes on the Wild’s first power play. The sequence led to Joel Eriksson Ek scoring from the low slot at 14:25, giving the Wild a 1-0 lead. Eriksson Ek’s goal was the first of four unanswered goals, three of which came in the second period. Dallas’ goaltender Jake Oettinger, who had previously faced criticism for his performance in the 2025 Western Conference finals, allowed four goals in under two periods. The loss raised questions about whether Oettinger would be pulled again, especially after his Game 5 collapse against Edmonton, which contributed to the firing of coach Peter DeBoer and the hiring of Glen Gulutzan. Gulutzan, the new head coach, emphasized that the team’s issues lay elsewhere. “Nothing for me was on our goaltending,” he said. “For me, it was certainly on our specialty teams needing to be better, and our 5-on-5 play wasn’t good enough.” The Stars managed to cut the deficit to 4-1 late in the second period when Jason Robertson scored on the extra-skater advantage.#minnesota_wild #dallas_stars #american_airlines_center #mats_zuccarello #matt_boldy
