Gustavsson, Wild defeat Stars in shootout, end skid

ST. PAUL, Minn. --Filip Gustavsson made 29 saves for the Minnesota Wild in a 2-1 shootout win against the Dallas Stars at Xcel Energy Center on Friday.

Frederick Gaudreau and Matt Boldy scored in the shootout, and Gustavsson made three straight saves after Jason Robertson scored in the first round.
"We're good in shootouts, we're good in overtime," Gustavsson said. "You just have to stay calm there and treat it like any other game."
Mats Zuccarello scored his 20th goal of the season for Minnesota (29-21-5), which had lost five of six (1-4-1).
"Obviously it's nice to get rewarded positively in a game like that against a team like that," Wild coach Dean Evason said. "To play the way that we played defensively, but the way that we worked, was again positive. We've had them for a while now. We just haven't got the two points on a consistent basis. We need to keep doing it."

Jamie Benn scored, and Jake Oettinger made 31 saves for Dallas (30-14-12), which has lost three in a row (0-1-2) and plays the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday.
"It was a great game," Oettinger said. "[Gustavsson] is a great goalie, made some huge saves. It felt like a playoff game. They're a great team over there. They're going to be a tough team to beat in a seven-game (playoff) series. It's tight out there. I had the chance to end the game in the shootout, [but] I didn't do it."
Zuccarello gave the Wild a 1-0 lead at 6:37 of the third period, deflecting a pass from Boldy on the power play.
"[Goals have] been hard to come by as of late, but yeah, it's a really good feeling," Zuccarello said.

Benn tied it 1-1 at 10:24 on a shot from a sharp angle on the left off a pass from Wyatt Johnston from behind the net for his third goal in four games.
"We played a [heck] of a road game against a tough, desperate team," Stars coach Peter DeBoer said. "We didn't get the extra point, but you can't throw out all the good work we did, and that's the story. There's a lot of good stuff there. We battled hard against a real desperate team. That team needs to win that game. I thought we had lots of chances and fought back, got behind, so a lot of good stuff."
NOTES: It was the sixth time in the past eight games that went past regulation for Dallas (1-0-5) and Oettinger's first loss against Minnesota (4-0-1). … The Wild went 4-for-4 on the penalty kill to extend their streak to 18 straight over six games. … Zuccarello has five points (one goal, four assists) in a four-game point streak and 10 points (two goals, eight assists) in the past nine games. … Minnesota forward Adam Beckman had one shot and one hit in 12:01 in his first game since Dec. 29 after being recalled from Iowa of the American Hockey League on Friday. … Stars forward Fredrik Karlstrom played 6:51 in his season debut. He was recalled from Texas (AHL) on Thursday.