ESPN.com notebook

He said that "I had one goal in 30 games. I didn't think I'd get the first one against Dallas." -- Wild forward Jeff Nielsen Inside Minnesota About two minutes into the game, Wes Walz went in on a breakaway. Stars D Darryl Sydor hooked him and Walz went down, clearly taking a dive. Both received penalties. If Walz fought through it, he would have gotten Sydor a penalty or perhaps a goal. ... One-time captain Scott Pellerin must have been pretty jazzed up for this one because he received an uncharacteristic roughing call for hitting from behind 1:23 into the game. ... At the morning skate, Jacques Lemaire showed why he's such a successful coach. When asked about the game's magnitude, he acknowledged it but didn't alter his treatment of the team or scheduling. The skate was optional -- several vets including Pellerin were absent -- and it was loose and fun, with assistant Mario Tremblay participating in certain drills. Lemaire insisted the team should have fun despite the excitement leading up to the game. "You don't want them tight; you want them to play well," he said. Inside Dallas When the Wild went up 2-0 in the second period, Dallas dominated for much of a 10-minute stretch and had a 5-on-3 for almost a minute -- and couldn't score. ... The Stars really hurt themselves in this one. Both Ed Belfour and Brett Hull basically gave the Wild two empty nets by mishandling the puck. Also, two goals were scored on deflections that Belfour had no chance on. ... After the Wild took a two-goal lead in the first, Jamie Langenbrunner fought Jim Dowd almost immediately after the puck dropped. Not exactly a heavyweight bout, but it showed Langenbrunner wanted to fire his team up. More from the crowd The "Eddie! Eddie! Eddie!" chants at Ed Belfour made it clear that the old North Stars-Blackhawks rivalry isn't totally forgotten. ... There was only one "Norm Green sucks!" chant. ... Before the game started, Minnesota hockey hero Neal Broten had a Stars jersey on and then took it off to display a Wild sweater underneath. After bellowing the traditional "Let's play hockey" tradition, the crowd went nuts. ... How different are Midwesterners compared to Easterners? Before the game, a family was seen greeting a concession guy by his first name and even giving him a hug before buying beers and soda. Try that at the old Boston Garden, and you'd get beat up. ... The organ is shaped like a Zamboni.

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- This isn't the intro to a bad joke. Honest.

Two Minnesota Wild fans stood by a trash can, eating a hot dog and washing it down with a beer.

Another walked by wearing a Minnesota Wild jacket and a Dallas Stars jersey underneath.

One of the hot-dog eaters turned to the other and said: "That guy's confused."

That perfectly sums up the consciousness of the Minnesota hockey fan. In the stands for Sunday's Stars-Wild game -- marking Dallas' first visit back to the state it abandoned in 1993 -- there were almost as many Stars shirts as there were Wild jerseys. Certainly more than would have been expected.

However, it makes sense. Sure, people were livid when former Stars owner Norm Green took the team out of town. But hockey fans are hockey fans, and they had to follow somebody. Why not the guys you already know?

"Now I do (cheer for Wild), but I'll probably root for Dallas until Modano retires," said Aaron Sandnas, 26, who brought his wife Joanna to the Stars' hotel to get a 1993 program signed by Mike Modano, Derian Hatcher and Richard Matvichuk, the three remaining players from the Minnesota days. A photo with him arm-in-arm with Modano was clearly the highlight of his day, regardless of the game's outcome -- a startling 6-0 shutout of the Stars.

Ashley Wetzel drove from Mankato, something he does for every home game. He's another confused one, although not quite as symbolically as the guy with the multi-layered allegiances.

"It's been hard to get away from the Stars," he admitted. "I was happy to see them win the Cup. But if they stayed here, they wouldn't have Modano and Hull. And we wouldn't have a new arena."

But there still were plenty of boo birds out there, a few of whom were unequivocal in their general distaste.

"Yeah, I'm going to boo," Sarah Pasek said before the game from her upper level season-ticket perspective. "I know it wasn't the players' fault, but so what."

The anonymous guy who pointed out the confused fan seconded that sentiment. "Sure, I'm booing. Gotta blame someone."

Brian A. Shactman is the NHL Editor for ESPN.com.