Three Takeaways From Shutout Against Wild

The Dallas Stars get their first win of 2024 in a dominating fashion; a 4-0 shutout win for Matt Murray in his first start this season.

In the first of back-to-back match ups with the Minnesota Wild, the Stars came away with a 4-0 win, but that does not tell the whole story. The Stars were on the penalty kill six times and killed off every single one.

The game was 1-0 going into the third period and the Stars were getting severely out-shot, 21-12. Then, in the third period, everything came together for Dallas,

The Stars penalty kill is fourth in the league at 85.7%. They are also tied for second in the league with nine short-handed goals. This is the second multi short-handed goal game for the Stars, both against the Wild.

During one of Minnesota's power plays, they had a two man advantage. Dallas has spent 7:16 on 5-on-3 penalty kills and have not allowed a goal in that time. Additionally, the Stars have not allowed more than one power play goal per game all season.

Coming into this game, Tyler Seguin had 47 points in 42 games. In last night's game, Seguin added two more points to his total, one goal and one assist. 

Seguin's assist came from a Brock Faber turnover while on the penalty kill. Seguin was able to get the puck and pass it to Roope Hintz for the first short-handed goal of the game. 

Seguin's goal came on a harmless looking shot that snuck through Marc-Andre Fleury's body and barely crossed the goal line to give the Stars a multi-goal lead early in the third period, which set the tone for how the end of the game would go. Later on in the period, Hintz and Seguin nearly scored an identical short-handed goal, which would have been Seguin's third point of the night.

Seguin now has 49 points in 43 games against Minnesota with 19 goals and 30 assists.

Matt Murray got his first NHL start of the season for the Stars. He had not played since December 15th for the Texas Stars and was called up December 16th, where he had been backing up Scott Wedgewood since.

In the first period, the Stars went on the penalty kill four times and after 20 minutes, Murray had been peppered with 12 shots on goal. However, after the shaky start, the Stars tightened up the defense and started applying more offensive pressure.

Murray only had to face nine shots on goal in the second period, where the game remained 1-0. But in the third, with the shutout on the line, the Stars stepped up in front of Murray and only allowed two shots on goal.

This was only his fourth NHL start and his first NHL shutout.

The Stars got a much needed win thanks to Murray, who stepped up for them in the biggest way. 

The Stars play the Minnesota Wild again on Wednesday, January 10th.

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