Minnesota Wild rout Dallas Stars 6-1 in Western Conference quarter-final

The Minnesota Wild dominated the Dallas Stars with a resounding 6-1 victory at the American Airlines Center on Saturday to take a 1-0 lead in their Western Conference quarter-final series.

The heavy defeat marks a familiar and frustrating start to the post-season for the Texan franchise.

Dallas have now lost the opening game in nine of their last 11 playoff series.

The visitors stormed into a commanding 4-0 lead before the end of the second period to silence the home crowd.

Joel Eriksson Ek opened the scoring with a power-play strike following slick passing from Mats Zuccarello and Matt Boldy.

Oettinger escapes early hook

Three further unanswered goals in the middle frame left home goaltender Jake Oettinger badly exposed.

The 26-year-old American’s struggles revived memories of his early withdrawal against the Edmonton Oilers in last season’s playoffs.

However, new head coach Glen Gulutzan refused to blame his netminder for the heavy opening loss.

“Nothing for me was on our goaltending,” Gulutzan 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 former Oilers assistant took charge this season following the departure of Peter DeBoer.

DeBoer was dismissed after the Stars fell in the Western Conference final for a third consecutive year.

‘We have to be better’

Jason Robertson briefly reduced the deficit for the hosts with a power-play goal late in the second period.

That solitary strike provided the only cheer of the night in Dallas.

Finnish defenceman Miro Heiskanen urged his team-mates to maintain perspective despite the lopsided scoreline.

“It’s a long series, it’s a best of seven and it’s one game,” Heiskanen said.

“We have to be better than that, but there’s a good chance to win this one still.”

Oettinger also acknowledged that there is significant room for personal improvement ahead of Game 2.

“I think the last goal was bad, but I think I did good things and I think there are things I could have been better at,” Oettinger reflected.