There couldn't have been a more fitting ending to Hockey Day Minnesota. The statewide celebration of the game, emanating this year from Elk River, Minn., got a storybook ending Saturday when native son Nate Prosser scored the game-winning goal 2:42 into overtime, lifting the Minnesota Wild to a 3-2 win against the Dallas Stars at Xcel Energy Center.
"If there's any undecided votes for the
mayor of Elk River, I think we cleared that up tonight," Wild
coach Mike Yeo said. "All kidding aside, that's a very
fitting end to Hockey Day."
Prosser, who has scored only three goals in his
98-game NHL career, now has game-winners in two straight games for
the Wild, who have won seven of their past nine.
"We're real happy to have that moment
because, talk about a guy who goes out and does all the thankless
things, doesn't get a lot of those opportunities to get the glory,"
Yeo said. "Certainly, he's a guy that goes out and gives
other guys that opportunity."
With the Wild outshot and outchanced virtually all
night, Minnesota forced overtime thanks in large part to goaltender
Darcy Kuemper,
who made 33 saves. Once it got there, a quality shift by young
forwards Charlie
Coyle and Nino
Niederreiter set up the winner. Prosser played the puck behind
the net to Coyle, who passed to Niederreiter for a one-timer in the
slot. Dallas goaltender Kari
Lehtonen stopped the shot, but the rebound squirted free to
Prosser, who was crashing from the blue line, and he pushed it
through Lehtonen's five-hole.
"I'm at an all-time high right now, I
can't believe what happened," Prosser said. "Nino
and Coyle, they had a good forecheck going, made some good plays. I
saw him go to the net so tried sneaking backdoor and it just popped
out to me. I just wanted to get it in."
Another player with local ties got the Wild on the
board first. Fourth-line center Erik
Haula, a former University of Minnesota star, blocked an Erik
Cole shot at the point in one end, then chipped the puck off the
glass to himself to create a mini-breakaway. Haula's wrister beat
Lehtonen at 7:17 and was his first career NHL goal. It came on
Minnesota's first shot of the game.
"Something you dream about,"
Haula said. "Something that's been a long time coming, it's
unbelievable. It took a little while for the chills to go away."
The Stars held the Wild to three shots in the
first period, but trailed until 11:57 of the second when they strung
together a number of quality shifts and zone time. A shot by Vernon
Fiddler at the top of the right circle was stopped by Kuemper,
but a juicy rebound went right to Ryan
Garbutt at the top of the crease for his 10th of the season. Less
than three minutes later, the Wild's third line took advantage of a
Stars turnover in their own end, holding the zone until a Ryan
Suter shot from the point got through traffic and over Lehtonen
for his sixth of the season. Despite leading 2-1 on the scoreboard,
Minnesota trailed Dallas 22-9 in shots through 40 minutes.
"We outworked them, outplayed them, didn't
give them a lot," Stars coach Lindy Ruff said. "A
little bit of bad luck."
Minnesota remained on top until a holding penalty
to Clayton
Stoner put the Stars on the power play midway through the third
period, and rookie Alex
Chiasson scored his ninth of the season and first in 20 games at
9:32 to get Dallas even. An initial shot by Tyler
Seguin was stopped by an aggressive Kuemper, who came to the top
of his crease to stop the shot. The puck caromed to the right circle
for Alex
Goligoski, who only had Suter standing in the crease between him
and a goal. Suter did his best to make a save, keeping out the
attempt by Goligoski, but Chiasson was there to clean up the loose
puck in the crease.
"This was probably one of our best games
defensively, as far as scoring chances allowed to the other team,"
Chiasson said. "It's just tough. It's just a little play
there, we battle through. It would have been nice to get a win."
Lehtonen made 16 saves and has one win in his past
seven starts. As a team, the Stars have won just once to start 2014.
Dallas has three games in hand on Minnesota, but is now nine points
back of the Wild in the Central Division standings. The teams play
again Tuesday in Dallas, but the Stars have a game Monday against the
Nashville Predators first. Kuemper improved to 4-2-0 this season and
has started four consecutive games, winning three.
52 seconds into the third period Ryan Garbutt had a fight with Torrey Mitchell
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