Niemi comes off bench to lead Stars past Wild 6-3

With the Wild looking like they have a strangle hold on the game, the Stars scored three goals in a 4:30 span of the second period, the tying and go-ahead goals by Fiddler and Tyler Seguin 59 seconds apart. Dallas is above. 500 in Central Division games this season, which is a significant step forward from a year ago.

Minnesota defenseman Jared Spurgeon celebrates after scoring the game’s first goal in the Wild’s 6-3 loss to the Dallas Stars Monday night at Xcel Energy Center.

Minnesota led 2-0 through one period plus 14 minutes of the second before the Stars scored four times in less than eight minutes. The Stars’ next three games are home Tuesday against Chicago and a home-and-home set with St. Louis immediately after Christmas.

Goalie Devan Dubnyk finished with 28 saves for Minnesota, which has lost two in a row after a streak where the Wild had earned at least a point in nine straight games.

“We want to prove that we’re one of the top teams in the league”.

While the Wild did have the shutout going into the third, it’s almost impossible to keep a team as skilled as Dallas from scoring when you’ve given them carte blanche to shoot the puck.

Minnesota Wild defenseman Jonas Brodin (25), from Sweden, and Dallas Stars left wing Patrick Sharp (10) battle for the puck in the first period of an NHL hockey game, Monday, Dec. 21, 2015, in St. Paul, Minn. “We respond well. We weren’t ready right away but we got back in the game and took over”, Seguin said.

In 31 games this season, Spurgeon has recorded four goals and 12 assists, while leading the team with 65 blocked shots.

The Stars took a 3-2 lead with a pair of goals in the final 90 seconds of the second period.

Roussel added an insurance goal early in the third, swatting in a rebound of a shot by Johnny Oduya to make it 4-2. They improved to 12-3-1 on the road and enter the holiday break with their second six-game winning streak of the season. 2, Min, Coyle 7 (Fontaine, Niederreiter), 8:16. It put both teams a man short, and another penalty against Mikko Koivu 32 seconds later gave the Stars a four-on-three edge in skaters.

Yep. Those are definitely Minnesota North Stars jerseys, which are definitely a part of Dallas Stars franchise history and not the Wild.

Games are hard enough as is and spending the majority of the opening five minutes in your own zone isn’t the way to make them any easier.