The Wild’s stagnant offense while playing 5-on-5 continued for the third consecutive game Tuesday in a 5-2 loss to the Stars in Dallas.

They scored two power-play goals, but also gave up two and are 2-2 in the young NHL season.

The Wild haven’t tallied an even-strength goal since the opener Thursday at St. Louis when they won 5-0.

Trailing 3-0, they scored twice on power plays in the third period to pull within one, but Dallas got two empty netters for a final lopsided score.

How it happened

Dallas goalie and Lakeville native Jake Oettinger made 38 saves, and the Stars remained undefeated at 3-0 by giving the Wild a taste of their own medicine: They connected on both of their power plays.

One goal included a fortuitous bounce; early in the second period, Matt Duchene’s centering attempt deflected in off Wild defenseman Zach Bogosian’s left skate for a 3-0 lead.

Turning point

Despite this being the second half of a back-to-back for the Wild, who needed a four-round shootout Monday night to outlast the Kings 4-3 in St. Paul, they didn’t look tired.

They had the better pressure early on, outshooting Dallas 7-1 before the action was even 2 minutes old.

But not converting any of those chances into goals hurt the Wild, especially once the Stars did capitalize.

At 5:37 of the first period, Esa Lindell weaved a shot through traffic, and the Stars doubled their lead with 3:42 left in the first when Wyatt Johnston skated past a stickless Jake Middleton on a power play and wired the puck into the top right corner of the net.

That start coupled with Duchene’s fluky goal was enough to withstand a late rally by the Wild.

They finally spoiled Oettinger’s shutout bid 3:50 into the third period when Matt Boldy tipped in a Zeev Buium shot on the power play to become the first Wild player to score in each of the team’s first four games.

Buium drew a fourth power play later in the third, and the Wild made Dallas pay again — this time on a Kirill Kaprizov shot from the left circle with 6:56 remaining. But that’s as close as the Wild would get; Radek Faksa (18:18) and Roope Hintz (19:50) dumped pucks into an empty net.

Kaprizov, who assisted on Boldy’s goal, is up to nine points, which are tied for the most in the NHL.

Aside from starting goaltender Filip Gustavsson, who finished with 20 saves, the Wild kept their lineup the same from the victory over Los Angeles.

They also returned rookie Hunter Haight to the minors and called up Ben Jones.

Key stat

Oettinger still hasn’t lost to the Wild in regulation in his career; this win improved him to 8-0-3.

What it means

As the sample size grows, what works — and doesn’t work — for the Wild is becoming clearer.

The power play initially masked this percolating issue for the offense at 5-on-5, but now it’s front and center albeit not surprising. Without Mats Zuccarello, who’s still sidelined with a lower-body injury, the Wild’s lines feel incomplete, and the juggling on the second line underscores that; in-game vs. the Stars, the Wild scrambled the top two lines.

The circumstances surrounding this loss are tough: Travel after a late game plus Dallas waiting at home for the Wild isn’t ideal.

But until the Wild fix their execution at even strength — they are getting pucks to the net, hit a couple posts and had Dallas scrambling late — this problem will follow them.

Up next

The Wild will have a few days to reset before their road trip continues Friday at Washington.

That’s the start of another back-to-back, with the Wild playing in Philadelphia on Saturday.

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