ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Marcus Foligno used a time-worn cliche that sums up the Wild's 2023 postseason.
"Broken record," said the Minnesota forward following the Wild's season-ending 4-1 loss to Dallas at the Xcel Energy Center, with the Stars advancing to the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
And the Wild packing up after one round of postseason games.
Again.
This makes seven straight playoff exits after only one round for the Wild.
"It's a brutal feeling, grind out way into the playoffs and can't get out of the first round again," said Foligno in the gloom of the Wild's clubhouse.
Roope Hintz got Dallas going early, former Lakeville North goaltender Jake Oettinger stonewalled his home-state team again on Friday night.
Wyatt Johnston and Mason Marchment scored in the second period when a burst by the Stars -- smelling the Western Conference semifinals and swooping in for the finish -- outshot the Wild 18-5. Max Domi closed it out with an empty-netter in the final minute.
Oettinger made 22 saves for the Stars, who advanced to face the Colorado-Seattle winner. The Avalanche beat the Kraken on Friday to force Game 7.
Oettinger was bidding for his second shutout of the series before Freddy Gaudreau scored for the Wild with 7:07 left.
"He's our brick wall back there, and we trust him. Anytime we make mistakes, he's there for us," Marchment said. "We wouldn't be here without him."
Filip Gustavsson, starting a fourth consecutive game for the first time in his first season with Minnesota, stopped 23 shots in two periods.
Marc-Andre Fleury, who was in net for a 7-3 loss at Dallas in Game 2, took over in the third.
The Wild fell to 5-14 on home ice in the playoffs since the last time they advanced, a first-round win over St. Louis in 2015.
They are 4-13 in franchise history in postseason series.
With a raucous assist from Minnesota Vikings tight end T.J. Hockenson on the "Let's Play Hockey!" call, the crowd was buzzing along with the Wild during their strong start.
But the fans -- not to mention the frustrated home team -- just never got rewarded.
Ryan Hartman had an open net for a rebound that rolled just out of reach for a clean shot, and Oettinger and defenseman Ryan Suter immediately covered up the crease to prevent another try.
Just seconds later, Hintz went the other way to deke defenseman John Klingberg and deliver a top-shelf shot that sailed over Gustavsson's glove.
"They're so good around the net. That was a focal point for us in the series, and I thought tonight was our best defensive game of the whole series," Oettinger said.
The Wild took a 2-1 lead on St. Louis in the playoffs last year before dropping three straight games, too.
"For the most of the games, I thought we were the better team and we still ended up losing. That's probably the most frustrating," Mats Zuccarello said. "Maybe last year I think you have a feeling you lost to a better team."
Kirill Kaprizov was their heartbeat of that series against the Blues, but the superstar left wing struggled to get going this year after a goal in Game 1.
Suter, his former teammate, and fellow blue-liner Miro Heiskanen made Kaprizov work for every inch of ice and frequently met him with punishing checks.