Vladimir Tarasenko’s OT winner pulls Wild out of home slump
The numbers-crunchers will tell you that Saturday’s Minnesota Wild game versus Dallas was almost certainly a preview of a first-round NHL playoff series next month. If so, Wild fans hope the results in April are similar, as Minnesota rallied to beat the Stars 2-1 in overtime , snapping a four-game home losing streak. Vladimir Tarasenko scored in the extra session as the Wild got a rare win versus Lakeville native Jake Oettinger, who fell to 8-1-4 all time versus his home state team despite 26 saves.
Bobby Brink had a second period goal for the Wild, who got a 28-save effort from goalie Filip Gustavsson in their final home game of the month. Oettinger, who was Team USA’s backup goalie in their run to the gold medal last month, ranged from steady to spectacular in stifling the Wild, but couldn’t stop the last shot he faced in the 3-on-3 extra session. Minnesota has now won two of three in the season series with Dallas, with one more regular season game remaining, April 9 in Texas.
Minnesota, which was again playing without offensive standouts Kirill Kaprizov and Joel Eriksson Ek, has now won two of its past six games The Wild power play went to work less than a minute into the game when Dallas forward Jason Robertson blasted Wild defenseman Quinn Hughes from behind into the corner boards. Hughes stayed on the ice for much of the man advantage, but Minnesota did not get a shot on the Stars net. By contrast, the first Stars’ power play was brief, as Robertson fired a shot that glanced off Wild defenseman Jake Middleton and over the line for a 1-0 Dallas lead after the first period.
It was the fifth consecutive home contest in which the Wild have allowed the game’s first goal. The score stayed that way, mostly thanks to Oettinger turning away every puck he saw, until just past the halfway mark of the middle frame. After a long lead pass from Hughes, Brink found himself alone behind the Dallas defense, and made a deceptive move on Oettinger before flipping a backhand shot past the goalie.
For Brink, it was his second goal in the five games he has played in Minnesota since arriving from Philadelphia at the trade deadline. The Wild killed Dallas power plays late in the second period and early in the third. But with under eight minutes left in regulation, Stars forward Sam Steel and Brink collided at center ice, and after a review, Brink was given four minutes for high sticking on the play.