ST. PAUL, Minn. _ The Wild have had quite the knack this season of not letting one loss fester and turn into two, and Thursday night against a team fighting for its playoff lives, the Wild turned to backup goaltender Darcy Kuemper to keep the streak alive.
The Wild haven't lost two in a row in 2 { months and haven't lost two in a row in regulation since the only previous time that happened, Nov. 1 and 5.
Kuemper came through by turning in a solid performance during a 3-1 victory over last year's Central Division-winning Dallas Stars, who are buried in 12th place in the West.
Kuemper made 34 saves and got the start because coach Bruce Boudreau didn't want Kuemper, who entered with a 3.21 goals-against average and .904 save percentage, to go 2 { weeks between his previous and likely next start Feb. 28 in Winnipeg.
"We need him to be good for us to be good because we're not going to be able to play Duby (Devan Dubnyk) 22 games in a row after the break," Boudreau said before the game.
The Wild improved to 14-3-2 in games following a loss this season and it was the eighth consecutive time the Wild kept one loss from becoming two in a row.
Ryan Suter, Erik Haula and Jared Spurgeon each scored goals and Mikko Koivu had two assists for Minnesota, which won for the 38th time in 57 games, matching last season's 82-game total.
The Wild extended their point streak against Dallas to seven games (5-0-2) and improved to 9-2-4 in the past 15 meetings. The Wild are now seven points up on Chicago.
The Stars, seven points out of a playoff spot, lost for the seventh time in the past eight games.
Last-minute goals are often momentum-turners. Well, you can't score later than the final second of a period, and that's just what the Wild achieved with eight-tenths of a second left in the first period.
With 3.8 seconds left, Koivu, who has won 55 percent of his draws this season and was coming off a 20-for-26 performance against Anaheim, won a key one right back to Pominville.
The veteran quickly funneled it to his right for Suter, who one-timed a power-play goal. It was Suter's his first goal since Jan. 21 and his first point in 11 games. Pominville picked up his 18th point in the past 14 games.
The Wild improved to 21-5-2 when scoring at least one power-play goal this season.
It was a big goal because the first period wasn't the Wild's finest. The team picked it up late, but the Wild got off to a slow start and Kuemper masterfully covered a lot of mistakes.
The second period started much better, and frankly, the momentum-turner this time was a penalty kill.
Since Dec. 31, the Wild and Stars possess two of the worst penalty kills in the NHL, but the Wild stymied both of Dallas' star-studded units and scored 12 seconds after Koivu's holding minor ended.
Koivu picked up a point coming out of the box by getting the puck to a high-flying Jordan Schroeder, who all game seem spurred on by being a healthy scratch Tuesday against Anaheim.
Schroeder, who hit a crossbar in the first period and saw another great chance blocked into the netting, wheeled around two defenders and teed up Haula, the fellow ex-Gopher, at Kari Lehtonen's doorstep.
It was Schroeder's first point since Jan. 22 and Haula's 12th goal of the season.
The Stars cut the deficit to 2-1 5:19 into the third period when Cody Eakin scored his second goal of the season. Kuemper had no chance. Antoine Roussel's spinning shot from the point on net hit defenseman Christian Folin's right skate. The puck stopped and Eakin found the loose change.
Boudreau issued a challenge for goalie interference, but the referees didn't feel Patrick Eaves inhibited Kuemper's ability to make the stop.
But the Wild responded with their first 4-on-4 goal this season when Haula set up Spurgeon for a beautiful tally and 3-1 lead.
