Wild defeat Stars in OT, gain in Western wild card

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Marco Rossi scored a power-play goal 58 seconds into overtime to lift the Minnesota Wild to a 3-2 overtime win against the Dallas Stars at Xcel Energy Center on Sunday.

Rossi deflected Mats Zuccarello's shot during the 4-on-3 man-advantage.

“Try to be open, and ‘Zuccy’ is going to find you,” Rossi said.

The Wild moved to within two points of the St. Louis Blues for the first wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference. They are also six points ahead of the Calgary Flames for the second wild card.

Matt Boldy had a goal and two assists, Rossi had a goal and an assist, and Marcus Foligno also scored for Minnesota (42-29-7), which had lost four in a row (0-2-2). Filip Gustavsson made 23 saves.

“It was a strong game for us,” Wild coach John Hynes said. “I thought we came in with the right mindset and the right intentions to play the game we needed to play to win, and I thought it was good. We talked about after the trip just having more consistency throughout our lineup and guys playing to, I think specific roles and identities, and I thought the guys did a good job of that from start to finish.”

Jason Robertson and Thomas Harley scored, and Jake Oettinger made 38 saves for Dallas (50-23-4), which was coming off a 5-3 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday that end a seven-game winning streak.

“They turned it up in the third,” Stars coach Pete DeBoer said. “We sagged a little bit. Unfortunate back-to-back games. I think three and four for us. I think they had better legs. We grinded out a point but it’s always disappointing when you have a lead going into the third not to close the deal.”

The Stars, who have already clinched a playoff berth, are second in the Central Division, three points behind the Winnipeg Jets and seven ahead of the Colorado Avalanche.

The Stars took a 1-0 lead at 5:51 of the first period after Mikko Rantanen went between his legs for a drop pass to Robertson, who moved the puck up the left side for the wrist shot in the low slot.

Minnesota outshot Dallas 17-4 in the third period.

“Tight game all the way,” Stars forward Matt Duchene said. “They played well. Again, we didn’t generate enough offensively. So big, big point, but we need two right now.”

Boldy tied it 1-1 at 3:08 of the third, golfing in a loose rebound from his knees in the slot.

Foligno gave Minnesota the lead 2-1 at 5:00 after Rossi found him cutting to the net on the right side.

“I thought we were great tonight,” Boldy said. “No passengers. Everyone was ready to go and that's the response you need after the week like we had. I think that's more of the team that we're used to and expect from each other. So, for us to go out there and play that way after kind of the struggles we've been going through, I think speaks a lot to a group."

Harley tied it 2-2 at 13:05 with a shot from the blue line that deflected in off Wild defenseman Zach Bogosian’s ankle.

“We’ve been trying to get there and ramp it up and put in a full 60 minutes,” Stars forward Sam Steel said. “We had 40 great minutes, but this time of year we got to put together three periods.

NOTES: Dallas forward Jamie Benn was minus-1 with three shots and three hits in 15:49 after missing the previous two games with a lower-body injury. …With an assist on Harley’s goal, Duchene reached the 50-assist mark for the first time in his career.