Filip Gustavsson made 29 saves while Matt Boldy assisted on Minnesota’s regulation goal and scored in the shootout as the Wild outlasted the visiting Dallas Stars for a 2-1 victory on Friday night at Saint Paul, Minn.
After more than 45 minutes of scoreless hockey, Mats Zuccarello redirected Boldy’s pass at 6:37 into the third period for Minnesota’s 11th power-play goal in its last 12 contests. However, feeling the pressure, Dallas answered to knot the contest as Jamie Benn converted an angled shot off a behind-the-net pass from Wyatt Johnston with 9:36 remaining in regulation.
That led to a spirited overtime, where Gustavsson came up with a pair of big saves on the Stars’ Luke Glendening and Tyler Seguin. Meanwhile, Dallas netminder Jake Oettinger, who stopped 31 shots, came through when needed as well, notably stopping a streaking Kirill Kaprizov.
Boldy’s goal proved to be the decisive tally in the fourth-round of the shootout for Minnesota, which is 2-4-1 in February and fighting for a playoff spot in the competitive Western Conference (the Wild ended the game in the final wild-card position). Gustavsson has stopped 89 of 93 shots in his last three starts.
Dallas, meanwhile, still sits atop the West with 72 points. The Stars, however, have lost three in a row, but earned a point in two of those games, and is 2-1-5 in its last eight contests.
Following a quiet first period where the teams combined for 15 shots on goal, Minnesota recorded 17 of the 28 shots on target in the second. However, the game was still scoreless as both Oettinger and Gustavsson remained stout in net.
Dallas, meanwhile, went 0-for-4 on the power play spanning the first two periods and never got the man advantage in the third period or overtime. The Stars registered the first five shots on goal of the third, but the Wild took advantage of their second power-play chance of the evening through Zuccarello, who recorded just the third 20-goal campaign of an NHL career spanning parts of 13 seasons.
These teams combined for 20 goals during their previous three meetings this season.
–Field Level Media
