A three-goal second period propelled the Minnesota Wild to a 5-2 win over the Dallas Stars Thursday night.
Devan Dubnyk made 29 saves in the win as the Wild improved to 43-24-10 and are five points clear for third place in the Central Division.
Zach Parise struck twice for Minnesota.
“It’s something we talked about, pushing more teams, making that gap even bigger and pushing more teams down,” Parise said. “We know it’s going to be a tough game for us in Dallas (on Saturday), but we got the first one (in this home-and-home).”
Matt Dumba, Mikael Granlundhad and Jason Zucker also scored for Minnesota.
“There’s still a long way to go,” Parise said. “I think there’s, especially now, always areas of the game you want to improve and get better at and get everything going the right direction at the right time. But to get the points, that’s been important to give ourselves a chance and some breathing room.”
The Stars have been in freefall for weeks and dropped to 1-7-2 in their 10 games.
“It’s frustrating every game when you miss chances,” forward Jason Spezza said. “I thought we created a lot. … Pressure is what everyone’s playing under this time of year. We know that we had to win tonight, and I don’t think that played into why we missed our chances though.”
Jamie Benn and Devin Shore scored for Dallas.
[WATCH: All Stars vs. Wild highlights]
Kari Lehtonen made 17 saves in taking the loss.
“Yeah, it’s frustrating. We just gotta find a way to stick with it. We know there’s plays inside the game we could’ve done a better job at. … Their goalie made some big saves and we had some opportunities we didn’t cash in on, so yeah, let’s watch the video and go home,” Tyler Seguin said after the loss.
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