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Wild Falls To Dallas 6-3, Drops 2nd Straight

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Antti Niemi stopped 30 shots in relief and the Dallas Stars scored four straight goals to beat the Minnesota Wild 6-3 on Monday night.

Vernon Fiddler scored twice for Dallas, which has won five of seven and is 8-2-2 in its last 12 games. Jordie Benn, Tyler Seguin, Antoine Roussel and Cody Eakin also had goals.

Jared Spurgeon, Charlie Coyle and Nino Niederreiter scored for Minnesota, which lost its second in a row after getting points in nine straight.

Trailing 2-0, and with Niemi having replaced Kari Lehtonen in the first period, Dallas scored three times in 4 1/2 minutes late in the second to take the lead.

Less than a minute after a Jumbotron comparison of Yukon Cornelius from "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" to the thick, bushy-bearded Benn elicited laughs from the sellout crowd, the Dallas defenseman silenced those in attendance — and snapped a 33-game goal drought — when his wrist shot from the blue line beat Devan Dubnyk on the stick side with 5 minutes to play in the period.

Fiddler added a power-play goal off a double deflection to tie the game 2-all with 90 seconds left in the period, and Seguin converted Spurgeon's defensive-zone turnover into a goal a minute later, taking a pass from Patrick Sharp and beating Dubnyk between the pads.

Roussel added an insurance goal early in the third, swatting in a rebound of a shot by Johnny Oduya to make it 4-2.

It was needed because Niederreiter poked home a rebound of his own shot midway through the final period for his first goal in 16 games to get Minnesota within one.

Eakin added an empty-net goal with 1:53 to play and Fiddler added another in the final 15 seconds as Dallas improved to 12-3-2 on the road.

Spurgeon, who signed a four-year, $20.75 million contract extension earlier in the day, gave the Wild a 1-0 lead nearly 5 minutes into the game when his wrist shot from the right circle snuck in between Lehtonen's left shoulder and the top corner of the net.

Barely 3 minutes later, Coyle's shot from the left circle beat Lehtonen on the glove side to make it 2-0.

Lehtonen, who entered with a 7-0-0 record and 2.00 goals-against average in road starts, was replaced by Niemi after stopping just two of four shots.

NOTES: Dallas won the two previous meetings in overtime this season. . Wild C Mikko Koivu was named the NHL's No. 3 star for the week that ended Sunday. Minnesota's captain had three goals and five assists in three games. ... Despite playing at home, Minnesota wore its white road sweaters and Dallas wore its home green.

(© Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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