Wild finds legs late, but doesn't find a point in Dallas

DALLAS -- For 52 minutes on Friday, the Wild looked like it would find a way to grind out at least a point, on the road, against Central Division rival Dallas.
But on their 30th shot of the night, the Stars got the biggest goal from arguably its biggest name in an eventual 3-1 win over Minnesota at American Airlines Center.
The Wild didn't resemble the team that won three-straight games pre-All-Star break ... and expectedly so: Minnesota hadn't played in nine days while Dallas was playing for the second time in three days following its own lengthy layoff.

Trying to keep pace in the early going was critical. An early deficit would make things even harder to come back from, but Minnesota's scoreless first period -- thanks largely to goaltender Devan Dubnyk -- was a godsend.
"I don't think we were sharp passing," said Wild coach Bruce Boudreau. "There were a lot of things that we could tell it was the first game (back). The shifts were shorter. Just coming back and playing at a pace it wasn't as good as we would've liked it. Every team is doing it in the league. What are we going to do? Complain about it?"

Nobody was complaining after two periods when the game remain knotted, this time at 1-1. The Wild put together perhaps its best shift of the night to start the third period, and slowly but surely, the legs looked like they were returning.
"I thought we were playing better," said Wild defenseman Jared Spurgeon. "The passes were on the tape. You feel better about yourself and gain confidence. Not the way we wanted it to end. We had to push there and take some chances and unfortunately it didn't go our way."
The Wild had a couple of chances to take the lead, including one by Zach Parise just past the midway point of the third. But moments later, a seemingly innocent scoring chance proved decisive when Tyler Seguin's slapper found a sliver of daylight between Devan Dubnyk's pads and trickled across the goal line, giving Dallas a 2-1 lead.

Seguin would add a late empty-net goal to provide the final margin.
It was a disappointing end for Dubnyk, who was terrific all night, making a number of 10-bell saves, most notable in the first period, when Minnesota was trying to keep up.
"He made some huge saves for us. A couple of breakaways and some good looks for them," Spurgeon said. "He held us in there and was able to keep it a tie game after the second there."
The Wild's only goal came off the stick of Brad Hunt. The defenseman, playing in his second game with the Wild, looked much improved following the layoff, and scored on the power play five minutes after Andrew Cogliano gave the Stars a 1-0 lead early in the second.

"It felt really good. It would have been a lot nicer, feel a lot better if we would have got the win, but it was great work by the guys," Hunt said. "Staalzy made a great pass and I really didn't have to do much. It hit my stick and went in."
Hunt's goal came near the tail end of a four-minute power play, which gave the Wild critical momentum midway through the game.
Unfortunately for the Wild, it couldn't maintain that push long enough to get a lead. One missed chance in the offensive zone gave new life to the team at the other end.
It's the kind of give-and-take the Wild better get used to down the stretch, as the games ramp up in importance and teams jockey for playoff positioning.
That continues on Saturday when the Wild returns home for the second of back-to-back games, this time against the Chicago Blackhawks.
"For the next 31 games, I think that's what we're looking at," Boudreau said. "One mistake. I mean I think Zach missed a net where Bishop falls and he's out of the net and they come down and score and that's the difference in the game."
Related:
Postgame Hat Trick: Stars 3, Wild 1