Heika's Take: Stars continue their winning ways with tons of fun mixed in

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Patience has been a friend to the Stars this season, and Sunday was a great example of why.
Riley Tufte waited four months to start in his home arena and was rewarded with the first goal of his NHL career.

Jake Oettinger worked his way to a start for the first time in the same barn and came up with a huge victory.
And the Stars have diligently been chasing down their Central Division cohorts for a few months, and finally evened things up Sunday with a 6-3 win over the Minnesota Wild.
It was a pretty cool night for persistence.
"I'm happy for both of the Minnesota kids to come in here and get that, good for them," Stars coach Rick Bowness said. "We played really well, simple as that. Specialty teams were really good, and we got the timely saves and the timely goals."

Both Tufte and Oettinger were a big part of that. Oettinger, the 23-year-old goalie from Lakeville, Minnesota made some huge stops early to keep the Stars in a 1-0 game. And Tufte, the 23-year-old from Coon Rapids, Minnesota, came up with a huge goal while driving the net in the second period to give Dallas a 3-1 lead and put the Wild on edge.
Tufte was playing in just his ninth NHL game and is averaging about seven minutes a night, so he made the most of a great chance and was able to stick with a puck and force it around Minnesota goalie Kaapo Kahkonen. It was a huge play in a game where Kahkonen would eventually be pulled.
Tufte said he was just trying to make something good happen.
"I kind of blanked out there," he joked. "I was kind of falling down when I scored, so I wasn't sure it went in, but it was an awesome feeling."

Tufte had played previously at Xcel Energy Center in his high school and college days but missed a chance earlier in the season. This time, he was greeted by a large group of friends and family who were able to cheer his announcement in the starting lineup.
"It's awesome coming home," he said. "I'm happy to play here, and to get the first one here tops it off."
Jason Robertson added his second consecutive hat trick, the first time that's happened for a Dallas Stars player, and said the biggest accomplishment was winning the game.
Dallas had a 4-1 lead in the third period, but the Wild pulled their goalie with more than eight minutes remaining and tallied twice to cut the score to 4-3. However, Jamie Benn and Robertson scored empty-net goals to make the final 6-3. Dallas missed on seven chances at an empty net before finally cashing in to put the game away.
"I was just glad we won the game after we blew that lead," Robertson said. "I felt bad that we kind of let them back in the game."

Robertson joked that he thought Oettinger was going to try to score an empty-net goalie goal while Dallas was up three but said that just added to the fun for the two locals.
"We know they're from Minnesota, so we know they're going to have big games," Robertson said. "I swear Jake was going to go for an empty netter. That would've been nice, both guys get their first NHL goals in their hometown. It's pretty neat, and it's really special."
Oettinger was in the back of the interview room when Robertson made his comment and dueled back when he got to the podium. Asked if he really was going to go for an empty net, the goalie laughed and replied "None of our guys seemed to want to score it, so…"

And that's part of the fun of going through a run like this. Michael Raffl had a big game a few nights back. Alexander Radulov followed up with one of his own. Robertson had a huge game in Winnipeg, and now the Minnesota players were able to share in the fun.
It's great for team building.
"It's been awesome," said Tufte. "These guys have been great with me. Being a call-up, you're not sure how it's going to go, but these guys have made me feel part of the team."
The Stars are 14-4-1 in their past 19 games and have made a huge push up the standings to catch Minnesota in points with 67. The Wild has played one fewer game, so it's ahead on points percentage, but Dallas has made a statement with recent wins over Winnipeg (twice), LA and now Minnesota.
Dallas has a chance to continue this run with a game at Nashville Tuesday. The Predators are one point behind in the standings.
If Sunday proved anything, it's that you have to be focused on the task and stay patient and persistent.
"That's a good sign of where we are right now," Bowness said of a six-game point streak (5-0-1). "That's a good bunch, they've come together really well. We're happy with where we are, but we haven't done anything yet. Until we see that X beside our name in the playoffs, we've got to keep pushing."
This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.
Mike Heikais a Senior Staff Writer for DallasStars.com and has covered the Stars since 1994. Follow him on Twitter @MikeHeika.