Stars Veteran Lineup Smothers Wild

Dallas had goals from veterans Miro Heiskanen, Mason Marchment and Jamie Benn to propel them to a 5-2 victory Wednesday.

Halfway through their preseason schedule, the Dallas Stars managed to keep their win streak alive with a 5-2 win against the Minnesota Wild Wednesday night.

While the game was not as exciting as watching Lian Bichsel's buzzer beater sink the Colorado Avalanche on Monday, the Stars took home a fairly dominant home win. Dallas rolled out a good amount of veterans for the home crowd, while Minnesota sent a younger roster on the road to see what those players could do against a quality lineup.

Dallas controlled the game from puck drop, putting together a quality first period. Though the Stars dressed an NHL-heavy line up, they still have some holes in the bottom of their lineup to figure out. Kyle McDonald, who was playing in his first pre-season game, opened up the scoring when a puck deflected off of Wild forward Marco Rossi and floated up and over goaltender Filip Gustavsson. 

Miro Heiskanen, who was playing on his strong side while paired with Matt Dumba, scored his first goal of the preseason with a wrister from the top of the circle to make it 2-0. Dallas has been looking for a defense partner to put Heiskanen on his natural side of the ice, and it appears Dumba could be an early candidate to start the season as that player. The first period was uneventful outside of the two goals. 

Dallas goaltender Jake Oettinger did not get much action, as the Stars out-shot the Wild 16-4 in the opening period.

The Wild were able to find their game a bit in the second period. A turnover in the corner by Stars defenseman Brendan Smith resulted Jakub Lauko intercepting a pass intended for Matt Duchene. Lauko was all alone in front of Oettinger and he cut the lead in half about five minutes into the period. Minnesota outshot the Stars in the second, but they could not contain the Dallas offense. The Stars had a 2-on-1 opportunity that they initially fumbled, but Mason Marchment crashed the net hard and Duchene got the puck to him, where he scored five-hole.

In the third period, the Stars kept rolling with the momentum they had leaving the second period, but added a goalie change. Casey DeSmith made his second preseason appearance, taking over the net in a planned relief of Oettinger. On the other end of the ice, 33 seconds in to the third, Jamie Benn cleaned up the rebound on a shot from Logan Stankoven and made it 4-1. Both teams had power-play opportunities and could not capitalize, but with a little more than five minutes remaining the game, Wild forward Graeme Clarke spun around and threw the puck at the net. The shot surprised DeSmith, who allowed it to get by him and cut the Stars lead in half. In the end it wouldn't matter, as a couple minutes later the Wild pulled their goalie and Emilio Pettersen hit the empty net for his first goal of the pre-season. 

The Stars remain undefeated in the preseason going into their final exhibition game at home on Friday against the Colorado Avalanche. Dallas finishes off their preseason slate on the road in Minnesota and Colorado. With three games left before the points matter for the standings, the Stars have to decide who makes the final cut for the opening night roster,

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