A couple of minutes later, Zucker had another grade-A chance, this time when Mats Zuccarello spotted Zucker with a step on the defense. Zuccarello sent the puck deep, banking it off the end wall and right to Zucker, who flipped it off the post.
3. The regular season is just one week away.
Minnesota's game in Dallas on Thursday was its final road contest of the exhibition season, as the Wild has just one preseason game left, Sunday in St. Paul against Winnipeg.
One week from Thursday, Minnesota will open the regular season in Nashville before heading to Colorado a week from Saturday. Two weeks from Thursday, the Wild will play at Winnipeg in its third game of the season. So while the preseason will be over, Minnesota's streak of playing Central Division foes will continue on.
When it comes to the roster moves between now and then, Belpedio likely did the most to help his cause against the Stars.
While forwards Nico Sturm and Gerry Mayhew were healthy scratches, Belpedio had yet another strong game and assisted on Zucker's second-period goal. With Greg Pateryn back in Minnesota nursing a lower-body injury and Brad Hunt just getting back on the ice after dealing with back spasms earlier in the week, the door could be cracked for Belpedio to be on the Opening Night roster.