Wild 4, Stars 1
Thomas Vanek scored late in the second period to end both a personal drought and his team's futility on the power play as host Minnesota skated to its fifth victory in six games.
Nino Niederreiter also tallied with the man advantage for the Wild, who went 2-for-4 on the power play after entering the contest on an 0-for-27 skid. Mikael Granlund and defenseman Matt Dumba also tallied, Zach Parise notched a pair of assists and Darcy Kuemper finished with 19 saves as the Wild improved to 5-0-0 at Xcel Energy Center.
Vernon Fiddler scored and Kari Lehtonen turned aside 26 shots for the Stars, who have dropped four in a row. Veteran Jason Spezza was held off the scoresheet to remain stuck on 699 points in his career.
Dumba slid across the blue line and unleashed a slap shot past Lehtonen at 13:14 of the second period to give Minnesota a 2-0 lead. Fiddler responded eight seconds later with a wrist shot from the left faceoff circle before Vanek answered by sweeping a shot from the inner edge of the right circle just under the crossbar with 57 seconds left in the session.
Niederreiter added Minnesota's second power-play tally at 5:03 of the third, deflecting defenseman Ryan Suter's wrist shot from above the right circle past Lehtonen. Dallas didn't put up much of a fight, registering just six shots on goal in the final period.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Minnesota Ds Jonas Brodin and Christian Folin returned to the lineup after the former sustained a hand injury on Monday against the New York Rangers while the latter had been sidelined six games due to illness. Wild C Erik Haula also returned after missing two contests with an upper-body injury, while D Jared Spurgeon missed the game with an upper-body ailment. ... Dumba scored his first NHL goal versus Dallas last season. ... Stars RW Ales Hemsky suffered an upper-body injury and did not return.