Game Recap: Wild 3, Stars 2 (OT)

DALLAS -- Brock Faber scored 35 seconds into overtime to give the Minnesota Wild a 3-2 win against the Dallas Stars at American Airlines Center on Friday.

Faber took a pass from Matt Boldy in the high slot, faked a shot and went wide around Wyatt Johnston before looping around the net and scoring a wraparound to complete the comeback from a two-goal deficit.

“Unreal. You had [Marco Rossi] and [Boldy] and [Faber] out there to win it for us. That puts a smile on your face for sure. Those guys are just playing so well,” Wild forward Marcus Foligno said. “Those guys are really feeding off each other. Good play by [Boldy] to go in under pressure and wait it out a little. [Faber] came flying down the middle. He’s so shifty. Undercover shifty. I don’t think a lot of guys give him credit for how good he is laterally.”

Jonas Brodin and Foligno scored for the Wild (22-10-4), who have won consecutive games since Filip Gustavsson (27 saves) returned from a lower-body injury.

“[Gustavsson] was solid all night,” Wild coach John Hynes said. “I think we had a couple of breakdowns on the goals that they scored, but he was solid. He was solid in net, penalty kill, 5-on-5. He made key saves at key times. That’s what we expect from him and he came through for us tonight.”

Evgenii Dadonov and Johnston each had a goal and an assist for the Stars (20-13-1), who have lost three of four (1-2-1). Jake Oettinger made 15 saves.

“Up two in the third, and obviously let them back into it. Got to be able to finish games off, especially going up against a divisional opponent. Just got to be able to finish it off and not give up those two,” Johnston said. “Playing with the lead, you need to still play on your toes and still play forward, still play the same way. But part of that is you don’t want to be reckless, you don’t want to let them back in it.”

Stars forward Mason Marchment left the game at 18:45 of the first period after taking a puck to the face in front of the net. He did not return and later went to the hospital. Stars coach Pete DeBoer did not have an update after the game, saying that “it wasn’t pretty, so fingers crossed that he’s okay.”

Brodin cut the lead to 2-1 at 10:36 of the third period, beating Oettinger five-hole with a snap shot from the left face-off circle off the rush.

“We didn’t have a great start. They came out really hard. I think [Gustavsson] really saved us a couple of times there in the beginning. They had some really good looks,” Brodin said. “The [penalty kill] was good, we stayed with it and we got a win. Huge game for us. We just talked about be positive and stay with it, it’s going to come.”

Foligno tied it 2-2 at 11:33 when Jared Spurgeon’s one-timer from the right point deflected in off his leg as he jumped over the shot.

“Tonight was important for us to have that toughness throughout the day and into the game and then how the game developed,” Hynes said. “Getting down by two and then finding a way to come back and finding a way to win in overtime was important for us. Not just because of who we played, but when you’re in these situations staying with it and getting rewarded for it. We’ve done it numerous times where we’ve been down and had to come back late in games, and it’s a good attribute of our team.”

Dadonov gave the Stars a 1-0 lead at 9:52 of the first period, taking a lead pass from Johnston and scoring on a breakaway.

“Would have liked a little more run support, some more goals. I think for how we played, that’s been a little bit of an issue here ongoing,” DeBoer said. “If you’re only scoring two a night, your power play has to get one or you’ve got to get another one 5-on-5. We had some opportunities on both of those situations to get another one. You’ve got to put the puck in the net. It’s a hard league to win scoring two goals a night.”

Johnston made it 2-0 at 15:08 of the second period. He took a drop pass from Dadonov as he crossed the blue line and beat Gustavsson with a wrist shot from the high slot through traffic.

“We just [threw] it away,” Stars captain Jamie Benn said. “Played good for two periods and that’s a tough one to give up. We all want to be that guy [that steps up]. We can definitely go home, look in the mirror and see what we can do as an individual to help this team out.”

NOTES: Wild forward Kirill Kaprizov did not make the trip to Dallas and is considered day-to-day with a lower-body injury. … This was the first multigoal, third-period comeback win by the Wild on the road since Nov. 6, 2021 (5-4 shootout win against the Pittsburgh Penguins).