The first game between the current and former Minnesota NHL franchises in the 2016 Stanley Cup playoffs went to the older brother, as the Dallas Stars iced a 4-0 win over the Minnesota Wild on Thursday.
Wild vs. Stars 2016 final score: Jason Spezza guides Dallas to a 4-0 win in Game 1
The Stars cruised to a 1-0 series lead.
Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
Patrick Eaves led the Stars offensively with five shots and Nino Niederreiter led the Wild with four of his own.
Minnesota did not get off to a great start in this one. By the end of the first period, the Wild had fallen behind in shots 14-2. It's not hard to see why; top forwards Zach Parise and Thomas Vanek were both out of the lineup and Dallas put them back on their heels early. Dallas was missing center Tyler Seguin, too. But Wild goalie Devan Dubnyk was unhurt and fairly unbelievable throughout, keeping the Stars off the scoreboard until the middle frame.
Dubnyk would finish with 28 saves on 31 shots.
That's when Stars rookie Radek Faksa fired a snapshot past Dubnyk off the rush to give Dallas a 1-0 lead. They added to it a few minutes later when Jason Spezza drove down the wing, pulled Dubnyk off his angle with a fake shot and fired a sizzling goal past him on the short side under the bar.
The game ground down considerably in the third period, which was just fine for the Stars as they nursed their two-goal lead, added to it with a late Patrick Eaves goal and a Jamie Benn empty-netter and cruised to a 4-0 win and a 1-0 series lead.
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