DALLAS (AP) - Ryan Suter joked that he was trying to bank the puck off a Dallas defenseman and into the net.
Suter scored the go-ahead goal in the third period and had two assists as the Minnesota Wild beat the Stars 3-1 on Friday night.
Dallas goalie Ben Bishop had stopped a shot by Eric Staal, but the puck went into the left corner. Suter sent the puck back in front, and it ricocheted in off the Stars’ Esa Lindell with 7:06 left to put the Wild up 2-1.
“I was just trying to get it to the net,” Suter said as he got more serious about the description.
Devan Dubnyk made 33 saves - including 24 in the second period - for Minnesota in a game that was scoreless through 40 minutes.
“In the second period, if it wasn’t for (Dubnyk), they could have had five,” Wild coach Bruce Boudreau said. “I was really impressed.”
The Stars finally broke through 36 seconds into the third period, when Jason Spezza scored his first of the season, tipping in Miro Heiskanen’s shot from the left point.
Minnesota took over after that, finishing with a 15-4 edge on shots in the third.
“We go up 1-nothing and our mentality’s got to be step on their throats,” Stars coach Jim Montgomery said. “I think we get result-oriented, and we start managing, looking at the clock instead of playing through the game.”
First, Matt Dumba put a loose rebound past Bishop at 9:37 of the third to tie the score.
After Suter’s goal, Zach Parise scored into an empty net with 1 minute left.
“We got that feeling, especially after the second goal, to shut down,” Boudreau said. “We didn’t give them an opportunity. … We didn’t want to try to take the foot off the gas, and I don’t think we did in the last 10 minutes.”
Bishop also finished with 33 saves.
Spezza lamented his team’s late-game performance.
“Credit to their goalie, but it’s our job to make life as difficult as possible for him,” he said. “We didn’t play good for an 8- to 10-minute time and we lose a game because of it.”
The Stars have scored only two goals in losing their last three games after a 3-1 start.
In the closely played first period, Dallas didn’t have a shot on goal until Spezza put the puck on Dubnyk at 11:21. Bishop stopped the period’s best scoring chance when he denied Marcus Foligno on a short breakaway from the left faceoff circle at 13:38.
The second period was freewheeling, with the Stars outshooting the Wild 24-13 but they couldn’t beat Dubnyk. His best stop was on Blake Comeau on a 2-on-1 late in the period.
“When you’re seeing pucks well,” Dubnyk said, “able to read off our guys really well, because they work hard for me in front, that allows me to sit and wait and you’re not going down with the puck.”
NOTES: Dumba tied Jason Zucker for the Wild’s team lead with his third goal. Parise leads the team with eight points (two goals, six assists). . Minnesota recalled F Matt Read from Iowa of the AHL and immediately put him on the top line. Read replaced Matt Hendricks, who is expected to miss 2 to 3 weeks because of a left leg injury that occurred in the first period on Tuesday. … Stars RW Alexander Radulov had been expected to play despite what was described as a “minor issue” in the third period of their game on Tuesday. RW Valeri Nichushkin (lower-body injury) missed his second straight game.
UP NEXT
Wild: Return home to host Tampa Bay on Saturday in the Wild’s second road-home back-to-back games in six days.
Stars: Host Los Angeles on Tuesday in the second game of a three-game homestand.
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