Stars Lose To Wild
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DALLAS – Prior to Saturday, American Airlines Center had been a house of horrors for the Minnesota Wild, who had been 1-14-5 there since March 2003.
Center Mikael Granlund scored 40 seconds into the third period and the Wild defeated the Dallas Stars 2-1.
“We knew we had to bear down,” Wild defenseman Ryan Suter said. “We weren’t good enough on the road. We kind of changed our mindset where it doesn’t have to be pretty, just simple, and we have to outwork them if we want to even have a chance.”
Granlund’s second goal of the season came 40 seconds into the final frame when he tapped in a rebound of center Charlie Coyle’s soft wrist shot from the right point. Dallas goaltender Kari Lehtonen failed to cover the rebound and Granlund made him pay, splitting Stars defensemen Jordie Benn and Trevor Daley to knock in the carom.
“We were not perfect by any means, but we found our game through the course of the game and to find a way to win was huge,” Wild head coach Mike Yeo said.”
Center Eric Haula also scored as both Wild goals resulted from Dallas miscues and
goaltender Darcy Kuemper made them stand up by stopping 27 of 28 shots.
“I was excited when I found out I was going to get the chance to play,” Kuemper said. “(Backstrom) came in and did such a great job in that Buffalo game that I wasn’t sure if I was going to get the start. It was a huge road win for the team.
Dallas, which won road games at Phoenix on Tuesday and Los Angeles on Thursday, is 1-4-4 at home. The Stars are 1-3-1 when tied after two periods.
The Wild, who snapped Dallas’ two-game winning streak, fell behind, 1-0, early in the second period when Stars left winger Antoine Roussel scored at 5:34.
“It was a sort of a wraparound, and it come straight to my stick,” Roussel said. “I was there at the right time and I was able to get it to the back of the net.”
However, the Wild pulled even late in the second when Haula finished a chance from the left circle off the rush following a costly Dallas turnover.
After one period, it was a scoreless game with the Stars holding a slight edge in shots, 8-6.
However, early in the second, Dallas took the lead when Roussel scored his fifth goal of the season with a wrist shot. Stars center Vernon Fiddler picked up the primary assist with a nice pass from behind the Minnesota goal.
Stars right winger Ales Hemsky was credited with the secondary assist, only his second point this season in 16 games. Dallas signed Hemsky as a free agent during the offseason.
Minnesota tied it with 4:19 remaining in the second when Haula flipped a pass from center Ryan Carter from the left circle past Lehtonen for his second goal of the year.
Carter had intercepted a lackadaisical backhand pass from Stars defenseman Brenden Dillon near the Wild blue line to start the rush. Carter then delivered a perfect feed from the right point, hitting Haula right on the tape and he converted for the equalizer.
Stars head coach Lindy Ruff saw that goal as one that truly shifted momentum in Minnesota’s favor.
“We were dominating the game,” Ruff said. “It’s tough. You probably want to slide that one across and let your partner shoot it. It seems like we’ve been getting hurt. It’s better than a lot of bad plays. To that point, we hadn’t given up anything.”
Lehtonen left the ice with 1:30 remaining.
Both teams complete the back-to-back on Sunday with Minnesota hosting Winnipeg while Dallas will play at Chicago.
