Losing steam as the regular season winds down, the Wild cowboyed up when they needed to on Sunday.
After losing a one-goal lead late in the third period, Marco Rossi deflected a feed from Mats Zuccarello past Dallas goaltender Jake Oettinger on a 4-on-3 man advantage in overtime to beat the Stars, 3-2, at Xcel Energy Center.
Matt Boldy and Marcus Foligno scored third-period goals, and Filip Gustavsson stopped 23 shots as the Wild earned two points for the first time since their 4-2 victory over Washington on March 27.
The win helped solidify the Wild’s hold on the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference, giving them six points, 91-85, on idle Calgary, which has two games in hand on Minnesota and will finish with the NHL’s last regular-game April 17 at Los Angeles — against a Kings team that already has clinched a playoff spot.
Boldy had a hand in all three goals, finishing with a goal and two assists. He even drew the penalty 5 seconds into overtime, a tripping call on top winger Jason Robertson. Foligno had a strong game, as well, making some strong plays as the Wild finished off a penalty kill late to send the game into overtime.
Robertson gave the Stars 1-0 lead with a snipe from outside the left circle just under 6 minutes into the first period, but both Gustavsson and Jake Oettinger were stout for the next 40 minutes and the Stars retained their lead until early in the third period.
That changed when Boldy, active on a long forecheck, one-timed a rebound while falling between the circles to beat Oettinger to the left corner 3:08 into the last frame. Less than 2 minutes later, Foligno crashed the net, corralled his own rebound and poked the puck past Oettinger for a 2-1 lead at 5:00.
But Dallas bounced back to tie it late in regulation when defenseman Thomas Harley wristed a shot through the circles from the point and it redirected past Gustavsson off the shin pad of defenseman Zach Bogosian to make it 2-2 at 13:05.
It was a huge win for the Wild, who take a softer cushion west for three road games starting Wednesday at San Jose. Minnesota has back-to-backs at Calgary and Vancouver on Friday and Saturday before returning home for the regular-season finale against Anaheim on April 15.
Oettinger, of Lakeville, had never lost to the Wild in regulation before, 7-0-2 in 11 previous meetings.
