Wild recover for shootout win after blowing four-goal lead to Stars

DALLAS --The Minnesota Wild recovered after blowing a four-goal lead in the third period to defeat the Dallas Stars 6-5 in a shootout at American Airlines Center on Sunday.

"For us it's a hard game. They really came at us," Minnesota forward Joel Eriksson Ek said. "For us, it was just trying to survive and push back their momentum. We gave up too many chances for them to not score."
Kirill Kaprizov scored for the sixth straight game to extend his point streak to 12, and Marc-Andre Fleury made 30 saves for the Wild (13-9-2), who have won four in a row.
"We made some mistakes, and I know we didn't protect the middle of the ice as well as we would have liked, not only in our zone, but off of the rush they came through us pretty easily through the neutral zone," Minnesota coach Dean Evason said. "We did like that once we got one. It wasn't like, 'OK, let's just sit back,' we just kept going and pushing forward. Fortunate to get as big of a lead as we did because we needed it."

Roope Hintz had a hat trick and an assist, and Jason Robertson had a goal and an assist to extend his point streak to 18 games for the Stars (14-6-5), who have earned a point in 10 of their past 11 games (6-1-4).
Jake Oettinger allowed four goals on 16 shots before being replaced at the start of the third period by Scott Wedgewood, who made 14 saves.
"It's 5-1 with 12 minutes left. We could be walking out of here with nothing," Dallas coach Peter DeBoer said. "That's a really critical point, and you can't underestimate the fight in this group."
Eriksson Ek scored 29 seconds into the third period to extend the lead to 5-1, but Hintz cut it to 5-2 at 7:12 after receiving a saucer pass from Joe Pavelski over a sprawling Jon Merrill.
Robertson scored 38 seconds later to make it 5-3 when he got his own rebound and tucked the puck in around Fleury's pad and the right post.
Robertson has 34 points (21 goals, 13 assists) during his point streak.

Mason Marchment then got Dallas to within 5-4 at 9:55 with a shot from the slot.
"Get a little 2-on-1, see the guy sliding, on the backhand, really the only option is to try to get it to [Hintz] on that one," Pavelski said. "I think the [Marchment goal] was a good forecheck by [forward Radek Faksa]. He turns that one over, kicks it weak side, and you've got them spread out. It's a smart play and just try to connect on them."
Hintz completed the hat trick to tie it 5-5 at 17:49 on a one-timer from near the left hash marks with Wedgewood pulled for the extra skater.
"I think once you get that second one you start feeling, 'OK, get another one, you never know,'" Stars defenseman Ryan Suter said. "To tie it up there and force it to overtime says a lot about our group. Everyone believes in each other and knows that that next line can go get us something, either some momentum or a goal."

Kaprizov scored on a power play from the left face-off dot to give Minnesota a 1-0 lead at 15:04 of the first period.
Kaprizov has 19 points (eight goals, 11 assists) during his point streak, which is tied with Mikael Granlund (2016-17) and Kevin Fiala (2021-22) for the longest in Wild history.
Hintz tied it 1-1 on a rebound at 6:58 of the second period.
Connor Dewar restored the Wild to a 2-1 lead at 10:42, beating Suter down the right side for a short-handed goal.
Jake Middleton made it 3-1 at 13:17 when his shot from the top of the left circle deflected in off Stars forward Ty Dellandrea, and Jordan Greenway scored 15 seconds later off a net-front scramble to extend it to 4-1.
"It was a roller coaster," Minnesota forward Ryan Reaves said. "I think they carried a decent amount of the first period, and obviously we had a good push in the second. Start off well in the third. Good teams, they find ways to battle back. Hats off to them, they're a good team and they're going to find ways to push and claw back in that game. We found a way to come up with a win."
NOTES:Hintz's hat trick was his second in the NHL. … Robertson has 41 points (23 goals, 18 assists) in 25 games. Only Dino Ciccarelli (22 games in 1986-87) and Bobby Smith (23 in 1981-82) have reached 40 points in fewer games in Stars/Minnesota North Stars history. … Pavelski (38 years, 146 days) had three assists, becoming the third player in Stars/North Stars history to have that many at age 38 or older, joining Dean Prentice (40 years, 65 days) and Sergei Gonchar (39 years, 245 days). … Reaves has three assists in five games since being acquired by the Wild on Nov. 23. He did not have a point in 12 games with the New York Rangers.