Stars top Wild, keep playoff hopes alive

DALLAS -- The Dallas Stars avoided elimination from Stanley Cup Playoff contention with a 4-1 win against the Minnesota Wild at American Airlines Center on Saturday.
Jason Spezza, John Klingberg, Radek Faksa and Tyler Seguin scored for Dallas (40-31-8), which moved within four points of the St. Louis Blues for the second wild card into the playoffs from the Western Conference. The Stars are 2-7-2 in their past 11 games.
Kari Lehtonen made 33 saves for Dallas.

WATCH: [All Wild vs. Stars highlights]
"They came at us with a lot of wide speed, and they made a lot of wide plays through us, which usually doesn't happen," Stars coach Ken Hitchcock said. "But effort-wise, battle-wise and compete-wise and tenacity-wise, you can't ask for more."
The Wild (43-25-10) lead the Blues by four points for third place in the Central Division. The loss ended Minnesota's seven-game point streak.

Wild defenseman Ryan Suter left the game because of a lower-body injury at 15:31 of the second period after he was checked into the boards behind his net by Remi Elie. The Wild expect to learn more about Suter's status on Monday.
"I hope it's nothing too serious," Wild forward Zach Parise said. "If it is, we've had a lot of guys go down this year and managed to stay afloat. So, if it is something serious, we're going to have to get together and play some good hockey."
To remain in the playoff hunt, Dallas must win its remaining three games, all on the road. The Blues can not get more than one point.
"We came here today just to play hard and keep it all out there," Lehtonen said. "It was nice to get a good result as the last home game."
Spezza gave Dallas a 1-0 lead at 12:49 of the first period on a backhand shot. It was Spezza's first goal since Jan. 16, a span of 29 games.

Klingberg ended a 22-game drought with a wrist shot from the slot at 8:00 of the second period.
Faksa scored shorthanded 19 seconds into the third period when he redirected a pass from Tyler Pitlick.
Each of the three goals began with a Wild turnover in the neutral zone.
"If you look at the game, really, it's three pretty avoidable errors that end up in the back of the net," said Wild goaltender Devan Dubnyk, who made 32 saves. "Other than that, it's a pretty hard-fought game. But that's how much of a fine line it is."
Parise scored on a power play at 1:29 of the third, tipping in a pass from Mikael Granlund.
Seguin scored an empty-net goal at 19:13, his career-high 40th of the season. He joined Mike Modano (50 goals in 1993-94) and Jamie Benn (41 goals in 2015-16) as the only Stars to score 40 goals in a season.

Goal of the game

Klingberg's goal at 8:00 of the second period.

Save of the game

Lehtonen against Jordan Greenway at 9:27 of the first period.

Highlight of the game

Spezza's goal at 12:49 of the first period.

They said it

"We all care about each other in here. You never want to see anybody go off hurt, but when it's one of your top defensemen, if not your top defenseman, then it's going to hurt a little bit more. We just keep our fingers crossed and hope it's not too serious. He's as tough as they come, so he'll be out for as short as he possibly can be." -- Wild goalie Devan Dubnyk on defenseman Ryan Suter
"For sure, we always know he can score goals and put up points. But the way he's been playing defensively this year, it's a huge difference." -- Stars defenseman John Klingberg on forward Tyler Seguin

Need to know

Wild defenseman Jonas Brodin played his 400th NHL game. … Klingberg played in his 300th NHL game. … Seguin has 25 points (11 goals, 14 assists) in his past 19 games. ... Benn has 11 points (six goals, five assists) in his past 10 games. … Stars defenseman Stephen Johns didn't play and will be out at least four days with a concussion. … The last regular-season game for the 25th season of the Stars in Dallas included a pregame appearance by Modano, the NHL career scoring leader among American players and a member of the Stars team that won the Stanley Cup under Hitchcock in 1998-99. "It was really fun to see Modano come in," Klingberg said. "Really good electricity from the start of the game to the end of the game. It was a fun night to play."

What's next

Wild: Host the Edmonton Oilers on Monday (8 p.m. ET; FS-N, SNW, NHL.TV)
Stars: At the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday (10:30 p.m. ET; FS-SW+, SN1, NBCSCA+, NHL.TV)