Wild end Dallas hex, win sixth in a row

DALLAS -- It took four days more than a decade, but the Minnesota Wild finally earned another win at American Airlines Center.

The surging Wild got two goals and an assist from Zach Parise in a 7-4 win over the Stars on Monday, their first victory in Dallas since March 21, 2003.

Minnesota (19-10-2) won its sixth in a row, a stretch that includes games at Colorado, Vancouver and Detroit.

"I've heard the last four buildings we've been in haven't been good buildings for us. I was wondering what happened before," Parise said. "I think we're overcoming some demons this year with some buildings that have been hard for this team. That's a good thing for us. We're playing with confidence."

Minnesota trailed three separate times in the first two periods, and the game was tied at 4 before the Wild scored the final three goals. Kyle Brodziak's short-handed goal at 12:38 of the third period stood up as the game-winner. Dany Heatley and Pierre-Marc Bouchard added goals in the final two minutes, Bouchard's going into an empty net.

"Well, certainly not the effort that we wanted from the first two periods. I thought we got outbattled, and we couldn't contain that big line," Stars coach Glen Gulutzan said. "Then, the turnover on the power play cost us as our guys had clawed their way back in."

Dallas (15-14-3) tied it at 4 at 7:02 of the third when Philip Larsen netted his second of the year, and the Stars looked as if they had an excellent chance to regain the lead when Minnesota's Mike Rupp earned a double-minor for a high stick on Ray Whitney on the near side of the boards.

But just 20 seconds into the power play, it was Minnesota that capitalized, with Brodziak scoring his sixth of the season. Stars goalie Kari Lehtonen made a glove save on Cal Clutterbuck's shot from the left faceoff circle, but Brodziak drove to the net and poked in the rebound despite not striking the puck cleanly.

"Yeah, tough to give up that one," Stars center Jamie Benn said. "We wanted to build momentum. We definitely wanted to get a goal there, but if not, get some momentum from it. (We) kind of got shot in the butt there with that short-handed goal."

Heatley added his ninth of the season, and Bouchard collected his fourth.

"I love the way that we're scoring goals," Wild head coach Mike Yeo said. "There's skill involved, but it's matching our identity that we're a hard team. We're physical. We defend hard, and we're going to be hard offensively with the way we get to the net and the way we wear on teams. We have to continue to do that."

Dallas took an early lead when Alex Goligoski netted his first of the season 5:31 into the game. Goligoski, who is tied for the team lead with 16 assists, beat Minnesota goaltender Niklas Backstrom glove side with a 33-foot wrister from the slot. Derek Roy assisted on the goal after dispossessing Wild defenseman Ryan Suter behind the visiting goal.

Minnesota made it a 1-1 game at 7:35 of the first when Parise knocked in his own rebound for his 13th of the season. Lehtonen denied Devin Setoguchi twice at close range within a few seconds. Parise's subsequent attempt hit the crossbar and landed behind Lehtonen, and Parise then slid the puck over the line for the equalizer.

Dallas regained its advantage at 17:47 while on the power play, as Jaromir Jagr scored his team-leading 14th. The Stars gained the man advantage 20 seconds earlier after the Wild's Jonas Brodin tripped Eric Nystrom, right before Jagr flipped a 17-foot wrister into an open net.

Dallas led 2-1 after one, but Mikko Koivu tied it up for the Wild at 3:42 of the second, beating Lehtonen through the five-hole with a 27-foot wrister from the slot, his eighth of the season. Parise picked up the primary assist on the goal, which came as Koivu got around two Dallas defensemen to bury the equalizer.

However, the Stars answered again, retaking the lead when Trevor Daley scored his fourth at 5:10. The Dallas defenseman beat Backstrom short side with a 28-foot wrister from the right faceoff circle after a feed from Loui Eriksson.

Parise nearly had his second of the night at 7:42 when he looked to have knocked in a rebound off a Koivu shot. However, replays showed that Parise bumped Lehtonen into his own net, and the goal was nullified.

Parise did get his second of the evening and 14th of the season at 9:33 of the second. Koivu sent a puck from behind the Dallas net that glanced off Lehtonen's right pad and landed in front of Parise, who buried a 13-foot wrister to make it 3-3.

The Wild took their first lead of the evening at 14:22 when Cullen finished his fifth of the year with a 13-foot wrister that beat Lehtonen far side. The sequence began when Bouchard saw his shot from distance deflect off teammate Jared Spurgeon. Cullen collected the deflection to the left of the Dallas net and converted, making it 4-3.

Clutterbuck had to be helped off the ice by the Minnesota medical staff at 6:42 of the opening period after going hard into the Dallas net. However, Clutterbuck returned to the ice to start the second period and finished with two assists.

Yeo loved Clutterbuck's performance.

"Obviously, the short-handed goal was such a huge part of the game. Penalty-killing, physically, that was great by him. I think his teammates recognized that for sure," Yeo said.

Backstrom, who started his 11th straight game, stopped 22 of the 26 shots he faced for his 17th win of the season. Lehtonen stopped 35 of 41 in his 12th consecutive start.

"Thank God it's over," Brodziak said of ending the Wild's losing streak in Dallas. "Even dating back to my time in Edmonton, I don't ever remember winning here. It feels good to get the win here."

NOTES: Minnesota returns home to host the Phoenix Coyotes on Wednesday, while Dallas will wait several days for Friday's return match with the Wild. ... Rupp saw his first action since March 16 at Colorado after missing the past three games with a lower-body injury. ... Before the game, Dallas honored former defenseman Darryl Sydor, now a Minnesota assistant coach, for being selected to the Stars' 20th anniversary team. Sydor had three stints in Dallas and was a member of the Stars' Stanley Cup championship team in 1999. ... Brett Clark, Jake Dowell (who spent last season in Dallas) and Nate Prosser were scratches for the Wild. ... Jordie Benn was the lone scratch for Dallas. ... Nystrom, who played all 82 games for the Wild in 2011-12, skated with the Stars' first line alongside Jamie Benn and Jagr. Nystrom had a goal and an assist in Saturday's 5-2 win over Colorado. ... The attendance was 16,167.