DALLAS _ With the teams they're chasing for the last playoff spot in the Western Conference all idle on Friday, the Wild had a chance to complicate the standings even more.
A win would have put the team just two points shy of the second wild-card seed, adding it to the four-club stampede (Blackhawks, Jets and Predators) closing in on the Flames.
And that's exactly the logjam that currently exists in the West after the Wild rallied for a 3-2 win over the Stars in front of 18,532 at American Airlines Center _ a result that improved the team to 3-0 this week.
Center Joel Eriksson Ek scored on a wraparound goal with 27 seconds remaining in the third period, his second goal of the game, to cap off a three-goal comeback that included the Wild overcoming a two-goal deficit in the second period. That opportunity to recover was helped along by goalie Devan Dubnyk, who was solid in his first appearance in nearly a week. He made 31 saves, a nice bounce-back effort after he was on the hook for the 6-1 loss to the Bruins last Saturday. One of his best stops was a blocker save on the Stars' Radek Faksa in the third while the game was tied at 2.
Although the Wild were playing their second game in as many nights, traveling to Dallas after getting by the Canucks 4-2 at home on Thursday, fatigue didn't seem to be a factor for the Wild at the start.
But penalties were.
The team was dinged with three in the first, including a four-minute high-sticking double minor to defenseman Jonas Brodin. A few calls were suspect, drawing the ire of coach Bruce Boudreau. And that stung because the Stars capitalized.
With 4:32 to go in the first, center Joe Pavelski put back a Tyler Seguin rebound. Before then, Dubnyk was unbeatable _ making key stops on Dallas' Alexander Radulov and Andrew Cogliano.
Just 50 seconds into the second, the Wild were whistled for their fourth penalty. Only one second after Eriksson Ek exited the penalty box after serving his tripping minor, the Stars doubled their lead on a one-timer from winger Denis Gurianov. He was left all alone in the right faceoff circle.
But the Wild stayed out of the box the rest of the period, and that helped the team chip away at its deficit.
Eriksson Ek got the ball rolling at 8:25, jamming in a loose puck that was shuffled to the side of the net by defenseman Ryan Suter.
By 12:09, the score was even. Winger Ryan Donato, who continues to make the most out of a promotion up the depth chart to the second line, fooled goalie Ben Bishop after he turned and flung a bad-angle shot at the net from along the boards.
The goal was Donato's 10th, tying his career high set last season. His linemates Luke Kunin and Kevin Fiala earned assists on the play. Kunin has an assist in back-to-back games. As for Fiala, he boasts five points in his last three games and was bumped up to the top line in the third period to work alongside center Eric Staal and winger Zach Parise.
In the first period, the Stars recognized Parise for playing in the 1,000th game of his career.
Bishop finished with 27 saves.
Dallas ended up 1 for 6 on the power play; the Wild went 0 for 2.
