Mats Zuccarello scored twice and Ryan Hartman added a goal and two assists to lift the Minnesota Wild to a 5-1 win over the visiting Dallas Stars in Game 3 of their Western Conference first-round series on Friday in Saint Paul, Minn.
Marcus Johansson and Marcus Foligno also scored for the Wild, who rebounded from a 7-3 shellacking in Game 2 to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.
John Klingberg added two assists for the Wild, who are two wins away from advancing past the first round in the Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time since the 2014-15 season. Filip Gustavsson made 23 saves for Minnesota.
Luke Glendening scored for the Stars, who will look to even the series in Game 4 on Sunday in Saint Paul before the series shifts to Dallas for Game 5 on Tuesday. Jake Oettinger finished with 20 saves.
Leading 3-1 entering the third period, Zuccarello secured the win when he scored on a breakaway off assists from Hartman and Klingberg with 5:53 left in the game.
Hartman added an empty-net goal off an assist from Jake Middleton with 1:50 remaining.
The Wild took a 1-0 lead with 3:15 left in the first period. Klingberg ripped a shot from the wing that deflected off a defender's skate to Hartman, who centered the puck to Zuccarello for a backhander past Oettinger.
The Wild doubled their edge a little more than two minutes into the second period. After taking a pass from Matt Boldy, Johansson beat defender Colin Miller before wristing a shot past Oettinger.
The Stars cut the deficit in half at the 2:25 mark, when Glendening lifted a loose puck in front of the goal past Gustavsson. Joel Kiviranta and Radek Faksa were credited with assists.
The Wild extended their advantage on the power play at the 11:24 mark for the period.
After getting a pass from Jared Spurgeon, Gustav Nyquist blasted a shot from the point that Foligno deflected with a raised stick past Oettinger.
Though the goal was initially waved off because Foligno's stick was ruled above the crossbar when it contacted the puck, the call was overturned on replay.
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