All the Dallas Stars needed was one goal to turn the tide, and they got it early in the third period. The Stars erased a three-goal deficit in the third, and Tyler Seguin’s goal with 1:03 remaining in overtime gave them a 4-3 win against the Minnesota Wild at Xcel Energy Center.
The Stars outshot the Wild 36-16 over the final 38:49 of regulation and in overtime. Only a stellar performance by goaltender Darcy Kuemper, making his first start since Oct. 25, allowed Minnesota to build its lead; Dallas held a 26-17 advantage in shots through two periods.
When the Stars got on the board at 4:57 of the third period on a goal by defenseman Alex Goligoski, the momentum shifted for good. Stars goaltender Antti Niemi, who started each game of a back-to-back with Kari Lehtonen injured, made 23 saves, earning his second victory in as many days; he had 34 saves in a 3-2 win against the Vancouver Canucks in Dallas on Friday.
Dallas has won three games in overtime and another in the shootout. Its 19 victories are the most in the NHL. Stars captain Jamie Benn League-leading 18th goal pulled Dallas within one.
Minnesota has lost three in a row (0-2-1) and went 1-2-1 on a four-game homestand after starting the season 8-1-0 on home ice.
Dallas outshot Minnesota 19-8 in the second period and 16-7 in the third. Each team had two shots in overtime.
The victory extended Dallas’ road winning streak to six games; the Stars will play their next three away from American Airlines Center.
Goals
* The Wild got goals from Thomas Vanek, Charlie Coyle and Jason Pominville to build a 3-0 lead at 1:11 of the second period.* Goligoski deflected Jordie Benn’s shot from the point past Kuemper to make it 3-1 almost five minutes into the third.
* After a cross-checking penalty on Johnny Oduya put the Stars down a man at 8:33, Jamie Benn led a 2-on-1 shorthanded break and shot over Kuemper’s blocker at 9:43.
* John Klingberg’s snap shot through traffic tied it 3-3 with 5:26 remaining in regulation, and the Wild had to hold on just to get to overtime. It was Klingberg’s fifth goal. His 27 points lead NHL defensemen.* Seguin's overtime winner came after Benn entered the Wild zone and carried the puck behind the net, pulling Kuemper out of his crease. Benn wheeled around the net and found Seguin crashing the net for his 13th goal. It was Seguin's fourth consecutive road game with a goal.
Stars Quotes
Jamie Benn: “[It was] something we talked about in here after the second, just try and get one in the first five and see what happens. We executed that, and then kind of rolled with the momentum and were fortunate enough to find a win.”Tyler Seguin: “We're finding ways to win, and obviously last year we were finding ways to lose. We gave up a lot of goals in the third, almost like Minnesota tonight. But we really want to prove to ourselves that we're a great team, not just a good team. Now, there's two in a row, and it starts with following that up with another win.”
Lindy Ruff: “We weren’t getting great looks, but we were getting good zone time. We had some in-tight opportunities. We talked about just a little bit more traffic in front of the goaltender, which I thought we got in the third period.”
Wild Quotes
Mike Yeo: “You look at how many 1-on-1 battles were lost all over the ice tonight. They certainly had the puck a lot more than we did tonight. In order to have the puck, you’ve gotta do certain things in position. There’s 50-50 pucks that they came up with, that’s No. 1. No. 2, we scored three goals and we were far more concerned with getting the fourth and who’s going to get it and, ‘I want my goal,’ than we were about making sure we didn’t give up the next one.”Thomas Vanek: “It’s not even to establish a three-goal lead; I think that’s the ultimate goal on the power play. [But] just to create some momentum back. I think it lost it for us.”
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