Wild Gets Fast Start, Hangs On To Beat Dallas

Minnesota Jumps Out To 2-goal Lead In First Period, Hangs On For 3-2 Win

(AP)  ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - Cal Clutterbuck and Mikko Koivu scored first-period goals and the Minnesota Wild held on to beat the Dallas Stars 3-2 on Saturday night.

Marek Zidlicky also scored for the Wild, which has won three of four.

Loui Eriksson scored twice on the power play for the Stars, who have allowed at least three goals in 11 of their 17 games - including five of six.

The Wild, which played a poor first period in Thursday's loss to Vancouver, dominated early. They grabbed a 1-0 lead when Clutterbuck gathered a loose puck in the neutral zone and beat Alex Auld with a wrist shot from the right dot for the team's first short-handed goal this season. Koivu made it 2-0 late in the period, banking in a rebound off Auld.

Minnesota recorded the game's first 11 shots. Dallas, which had 87 shots in its last two games, didn't have one until more than 12 minutes had elapsed. The Wild finished with a 37-21 shot advantage.

Eriksson's power-play goals tied it in the second. His cross-crease pass was tipped in by Minnesota's Nick Schultz early in the period, and he later deflected in a slap shot by Brad Richards. The Stars have power-play goals in six of seven games.

Zidlicky gave Minnesota a 3-2 lead late in the period when his centering pass deflected off Auld's skate, and Nicklas Grossman tapped it into his own net while trying to clear the puck.

Eriksson nearly had a hat trick late in the third, but his rebound attempt was just wide as goalie Nicklas Backstrom scrambled back across the crease.

NOTES: Richards has a nine-game point streak. ... Dallas LW James Neal, who leads the team with nine goals, missed his second straight game because of a groin pull. ... Wild C James Sheppard was scratched. The team's first-round pick in 2006 has no points and is a minus-6 in 14 games. ... The Wild will play their next four games on the road, where they are 1-8 this season.