Jake Oettinger made 32 saves as the Dallas Stars blanked the visiting Minnesota Wild 3-0 on Monday night.
Wyatt Johnston, Matt Duchene and Mason Marchment provided the offense for the Stars (45-21-4, 94 points), who have won back-to-back games and have points in five straight contests (3-0-2).
Roope Hintz added a pair of assists as Dallas improved to 8-2-2 in its past 12 and 9-0-4 against the Wild over the past 13 regular-season meetings.
The second-place Stars have a five-point lead on the third-place Colorado Avalanche in the Central Division with a game in hand.
Oettinger’s 12th career shutout saw the Stars’ netminder improve to 11-2-0 over his past 13 home starts.
Filip Gustavsson stopped 26 shots for the Wild (40-26-5, 85 points), who saw their three-game winning streak come to an end.
Minnesota, 6-4-1 over its past 11, sits in the first wild-card spot in the Western Conference, three points ahead of the Vancouver Canucks.
Dallas scored twice in 58 seconds to open a 2-0 lead after 40 minutes.
Johnston opened the scoring, tipping a Thomas Harley shot past Gustavsson on a power play at 15:01 of the second period for his 26th goal of the season.
With the assist, Harley extended his point streak to four games (three goals, three assists).
Duchene doubled the Stars lead at 15:59, snapping a shot past a screened Gustavsson for his 27th. Duchene, who paces Dallas with 71 points in 70 games, has points in five straight contests (two goals, three assists).
Marchment added an empty-netter with 42.4 seconds remaining in the third period for his 18th of the season.
Monday was the third of four meetings between the Stars and Wild. Dallas edged host Minnesota 2-1 on Nov. 16 and the visiting Wild beat the Stars 3-2 in overtime on Dec. 27. The Stars and Wild wrap up the season series on April 6 in Minnesota.
–Field Level Media
