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Marco Rossi, Minnesota Wild (Mandatory Credit: Brad Rempel-Imagn Images)

2 Takeaways From Wild’s 5-2 Preseason Loss to Stars

Originally posted on The Hockey Writers
By Mariah E. Stark | Last updated Sep 26, 2025 8:35 AM ET

The Minnesota Wild took on one of their biggest division rivals in the Dallas Stars, at home on Thursday evening, Sept. 25, in their third preseason game. Their first meeting was just a couple of days prior on Tuesday evening, Sept. 23, in Dallas, where the Stars came out with the 3-2 overtime victory. The Wild had the lead for most of the game and overall had a strong showing despite the final score.

The Wild had a number of veterans in the lineup for their first home game of the preseason, similar to what the Stars had on Sunday. The game started out pretty slow, but then the Wild found their scoring touch and ran with it until the second period, when the Stars responded. The third period was all Stars as they scored four unanswered and took the win 5-2. In this article, we’ll take a look at two takeaways that stuck out, starting with how slow the start was.

Wild Sluggish to Start

When thinking of a preseason game, the start of this game could’ve fit that exact definition. It was slow and rather sloppy. Neither team seemed ready to go, but especially the Wild, as the Stars had twice as many shots on goal by the end of the first period as the Wild. However, by the end of the period, the Wild were ahead by two goals.

The game may have started out slow and seemed like it would stay that way, but it did a complete flip with barely a minute to go in the first. The Wild’s top line worked their magic, especially Marco Rossi, and scored back-to-back goals to take a 2-0 lead and ramp up the energy level a bit. Those goals worked in their favor for the rest of the game as well.

The rest of the team had a jump in their step, and they continued to get chances as the game went on. It was still lacking the typical high pace of a regular-season game, but those two goals woke up both teams, and it was a different atmosphere after that until the third period.

Although the Wild weren’t able to hold the lead and ultimately lost the game, they still kept things going. They didn’t stop the pressure, and they kept pushing; they just couldn’t quite get there as their chances missed.

“I thought we had a pretty good start to the game but after that it wasn’t really indicative of how we want to be able to play, just wasn’t the type of game that we were looking for,” said head coach John Hynes about what he saw in the game and he continued, “I wouldn’t go too much into the game, there’s a lot of things that go into preseason and stuff like that…”

Wild’s Top Line Strong

It could change when the regular season starts, but the top line of Kirill Kaprizov, Marco Rossi, and Matt Boldy showed some of the chemistry they had last season as they contributed two back-to-back goals and nearly had more as the game went on. That line was very comfortable together, and how Boldy set Rossi up for each goal was clear; they knew where each other was going to be.

Kaprizov nearly joined his teammates on the scoresheet in the second period, but the puck just went wide, or the goaltender managed to snag it. Despite the Stars taking over the game in the third period, the Wild’s top line didn’t give up and continued to pressure.

“I thought Marco was going tonight, I think he was on pucks, obviously the quick release, he scored his first goal obviously right around the paint…” said Hynes about whether he thinks this is just the start for Rossi, who had the Wild’s only goals of the game.

Although the Wild didn’t come out with the win, the end of the first and early into the second period were strong. There were some mistakes made, but that’s preseason, and there were also some very strong points. Hopefully, the Wild can shake this off and get right back at it when they host the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday, Sept. 27, and get a win to boost morale.