Losing steam as the regular season winds down — 0-4-2 over their previous six games — the Wild cowboyed up when they needed to on Sunday. After losing a one-goal lead late in the third period, Marco Rossi deflected a feed from Mats Zuccarello past Dallas goaltender Jake Oettinger on a 4-on-3 man advantage in overtime to beat the Stars 3-2 at Xcel Energy Center. Matt Boldy and Marcus Foligno scored third-period goals, and Filip Gustavsson stopped 23 shots as the Wild earned two points for the first time since their 4-2 victory over Washington on March 27. “From the start of this game, everyone was determined to win,” Gustavsson said. The win helped solidify the Wild’s hold on the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference, giving them six points, 91-85, on idle Calgary, which has two games in hand on Minnesota and will finish with the NHL’s last regular-game April 17 at Los Angeles — against a Kings’ team that already has clinched a playoff spot. “Tonight was a big game, but we have (four) left,” Foligno said. “Big one here Wednesday. We’re going to use these two days just to rest up. It’s been a grind but we’re excited we’re in the driver’s seat still. Our fate’s in our hands.” Boldy had a hand in all three goals, finishing with a goal and two assists. He even drew the penalty five seconds into overtime, a tripping call on top winger Jason Robertson, to set up the final man advantage. Playing the point, Zuccarello quickly found Rossi open at the left side of the crease. The young center barely had to move his stick to deflect it past Jake Oettinger for a 3-2 win, Minnesota’s first two points since a 4-2 victory over Washington on March 27. “I just rewatched it again; that was an unbelievable play by Zuc,” head coach John Hynes said “That’s what makes him special. He knows what he’s going to do with the puck before he gets it, and he has the mind to see the play and the talent to execute it. That was a big-time play.” Foligno scored on a rush five minutes into the third period to make it 2-1 and made some strong plays as the Wild finished off a penalty kill late to send the game into overtime. Minnesota killed all four penalties it accrued, the last with 3:27 minutes left in regulation after Dallas wiped out a 2-1 deficit on a fortuitous bounce. Defenseman Thomas Harley wristed a shot through the circles from the right point. It hit defenseman Zach Bogosian on his left shin pad and deflected the other way past Gustavsson to make it 2-2 with 6:55 left in regulation. “Those are bounces. We’ve gotta live through those. We’ve gotta fight through those,” Foligno said. “Those are going to happen in this game, and definitely in the playoffs, and the way you react to them is what makes your group special. … We could have gotten down, but we killed off another penalty and went right back at it.” Robertson gave the Stars 1-0 lead with a snipe from outside the left circle just under six minutes into the first period, but both Gustavsson and Jake Oettinger were stout for the next 40 minutes and the Stars retained their lead until early in the third period. That changed when Boldy, active on a long forecheck, one-timed a rebound while falling between the circles to beat Oettinger to the left corner 3:08 into the last frame. Asked if he was falling or lunging, Boldly said, “I’d like to say lunging.” Less than two minutes later, Foligno crashed the net, corralled his own rebound and poked the puck past Oettinger for a 2-1 lead at 5:00. It was an important win for the Wild, who take a softer cushion into the last 10 days starting Wednesday at home against San Jose. Minnesota has back-to-backs at Calgary and Vancouver on Friday and Saturday before returning home for the regular-season finale against Anaheim on April 15. “You can’t look backwards. We need to look forward,” Gustavsson said. “We know we’re being chased, and we’ve got four more games, and we’re just going to try to win them all.” Related Articles ‘Dirty’ effort gets Wild back on track with 1-0 victory over Boston Unlikely offense propels Wild back into win column Wild knocked off their game in Ottawa ...read more read less