Much of the NHL had their eyes on the Dallas Stars’ matchup with the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday afternoon.

For the Stars, it was their third straight game in a different country. Dallas finished the Global Series in Finland last weekend before returning to DFW to play on Tuesday and in Winnipeg on Saturday.

Coming into the matchup, the Jets remained the hottest team in the NHL with a 13-1 record good for 26 points.

Dallas wasn’t quite on that level coming into play as they entered with an 8-4 record good for 16 points,

That discrepancy was evident on Saturday as the Jets took apart the Stars for a 4-1 victory to continue their red-hot start.

“It was a big challenge coming up against the team leading the league,” Stars forward Wyatt Johnston said.

“It was a big game for us, and we obviously didn’t come out and play the way we wanted to. But you can definitely learn from experiences like this and just take things from it.”

Winnipeg pretty much buried the Stars from the jump as two first-period goals proved to be all they needed in this one.

Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck was once again excellent making 32 saves and setting a franchise record with a shutout streak of 191:47.

“He’s an excellent goalie but [Winnipeg is] playing a great game,” Dallas coach Pete DeBoer said.

“They’ve got four lines and six defensemen that are playing really well around them, and when you do crack the armor he’s there to make the save. And he’s an exceptional goalie, but he wasn’t the difference in the game tonight. They were better than us in a lot of areas.”

After the Jets tailed two more goals in the second period, Jake Oettinger was pulled from the game midway through the second period.

Roope Hintz scored for Dallas in the third but it was too little too late in a game Dallas saw as a measuring stick for how they stood amongst the central’s best.

“I think when you look at [Winnipeg] and Florida, they’ve exposed us and we’ve got to be a lot better, DeBoer said.

“I think we’ve beaten the teams we should beat, but when we’ve had opportunities to play the top teams in the league, we haven’t risen to the occasion. So that’s on us.”