Radulov hat trick sparks Stars rally in win against Wild

DALLAS -- Alexander Radulov had a hat trick, and the Dallas Stars scored six unanswered goals in a 6-3 win against the Minnesota Wild at American Airlines Center on Tuesday.

Radulov had four points, Joe Pavelski and Tyler Seguin each had a goal and an assist, and Roope Hintz scored for Dallas (5-8-1), which trailed 3-0 late in the second period. The Stars finished a four-game homestand 3-1-0 after a 2-7-1 start.
"We don't want to give up, and that's the bottom line," Radulov said. "We heard our fans weren't happy and we weren't happy with the two periods, even though I think the first wasn't as bad as the second. At the end of the second, we did a lot of good things.
"It's good to have a comeback, but it's hard to fall down 3-0, especially at home."
WATCH: [All Wild at Stars highlights]
Ben Bishop was pulled after the first period; he allowed two goals on 10 shots. Anton Khudobin made 11 saves in relief.
"We just thought [Bishop] wasn't on top of his game, that's all," Stars coach Jim Montgomery said.
Eric Staal and Jason Zucker each had a goal and an assist, and Ryan Suter scored for Minnesota (4-8-0). Alex Stalock made 31 saves.
"Momentum is real," Staal said. "Momentum in games is real. We had all of it, and then it shifted. I don't know what the answer is as to why, but we've got to figure that out. It obviously helped them the other way."
Radulov started the rally when he scored while falling down in the slot at 19:12 of the second period to make it 3-1.

"It evidently made a big impact on them," Wild coach Bruce Boudreau said. "Once we got our third goal, we stopped playing and they started to get mad and come on. We talked in between periods and knew they were going to come out in the first seven or eight minutes. But we make mistakes and obviously, we don't get rewarded for mistakes. But with the mistakes that we made early, they capitalized on all of them."
Hintz scored a power-play goal at 4:09 of the third to make it 3-2, and Pavelski scored at 9:36 to tie it 3-3.
Radulov's second goal of the game at 11:31 gave the Stars their first lead of the game. Seguin made it 5-3 at 18:20.

Radulov completed the hat trick with an empty-net goal at 19:30 for the 6-3 final. He finished with 10 shots on goal.
Dallas outshot Minnesota 18-6 in the third period.
"Feels good to win the hockey game," Radulov said. "But like I said before, it doesn't matter who [or] how, we need the points right now, it's huge. We were down 3-0 and we did a [heck] of a comeback and everybody played 60 minutes till the end."
Zucker gave the Wild a 1-0 lead when he scored on their first shot at 2:50 of the first period. Staal scored a power-play goal on a wrist shot from the left circle at 17:54 to make it 2-0.

Suter gave Minnesota a 3-0 lead with a power-play goal at 14:46 of the second.
"I think we just sat back," Zucker said. "I don't think we pressured them. We would just chip the puck and change."

They said it

"If we make the right plays, we were going to be successful. … They just had the adrenaline and the crowd and everything else. It was like a runaway train." -- Wild coach Bruce Boudreau
"We stuck together as a group in here. Players and coaches, from top to bottom, went out there in the third period with a good mindset of just working hard. We got some bounces from it and good things happened. It was nice to get the fans back on our side. That felt pretty good." -- Stars captain Jamie Benn

Need to know

Minnesota has allowed at least three goals in nine games this season. … It was the second hat trick of Radulov's NHL career. … Dallas scored six unanswered goals for the first time since Dec. 31, 2017, a 6-0 win against the San Jose Sharks. … It was Pavelski's first three-point game with the Stars.

What's next

Wild: At the St. Louis Blues on Wednesday (8 p.m. ET; NBCSN)
Stars: At the Colorado Avalanche on Friday (9 p.m. ET; ESPN+, ALT, FS-SW, NHL.TV)