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Stars forced to settle for one point in OT loss to Wild despite strong night from Jason Robertson

Dallas tied Nashville with 89 points with eight games left in the regular season.

For now, the Stars will have to settle for level.

With a 3-2 overtime loss to Minnesota on Thursday night, the Stars gained a point in the Western Conference standings, tying Nashville for the first Wild Card spot with 89 points with eight games remaining. By virtue of the Predators’ six-game lead in regulation wins, Nashville holds the tiebreaker with Dallas and retains the first Wild Card spot in the West.

Vegas beat Calgary on Thursday night, meaning the Golden Knights are two points behind the Stars for the second Wild Card spot, having played one more game than Dallas.

Frederick Gaudreau scored the game-winning goal 100 seconds into overtime to lift the Wild. It was Gaudreau’s third point of the night, after he assisted on both of Kevin Fiala’s goals earlier in the game.

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Jason Robertson scored two goals for the Stars, who also received 24 saves from Scott Wedgewood. Robertson now has 36 goals on the season. Wild goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury made 34 saves

“The difference in the game was Fleury,” Stars coach Rick Bowness said. “We outplayed them all three periods, we just didn’t put enough pucks behind him. We hit goalposts. We had open nets, we didn’t get the puck in. That’s hockey. But I’m very happy with the way we played.

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“We just beat Tampa. We just tied Minnesota, lost in overtime. Two of the best teams in the league. So we keep playing like that, things are going to be OK.”

Fleury set up Gaudreau’s game-winner with a long stretch pass after he outraced John Klingberg to a loose puck in the Wild end. Gaudreau evaded a backchecking Robertson and a stick-lifting Hintz to beat Wedgewood.

Fiala opened the scoring just 2:14 into the game with a nice move in tight around Wedgewood on a feed from Frederick Gaudreau. After a partial clear and a sloppy line change left the Stars to defend a 3 on 2, neither Denis Gurianov nor Tyler Seguin covered Fiala driving to the net.

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Robertson’s first goal came on the power play in the second period, depositing his own rebound past Marc-Andre Fleury after Roope Hintz twisted a pass to the net-front. It was the Stars’ fourth power play goal in their last four games.

“I didn’t realize how open it was, but it was a great pass,” Robertson said. “I was a great play. I didn’t realize how much time I had, but I had a lot of time, so it was a great play by him.”

Fiala tied the game at 2 five minutes later on a shorthanded goal. Alexander Radulov turned the puck over at the offensive blue line, springing the Wild on an odd-man rush the other way. Fiala tucked his 28th goal of the season.

The Stars wasted no time in tying the game in the third period, as Robertson’s tying goal came just 55 seconds into the final period. Miro Heiskanen sent Tyson Jost spinning to the ice in the Stars zone, then stretched an outlet pass to Hintz. Hintz slid a pass to the top of the circles for Robertson’s one-timer that trickled through Fleury.

Dallas is through maybe the toughest part of their schedule now, with home games against the Lightning and Wild in the rear view mirror. The Stars do face the Oilers and Flames during a road back-to-back next week, but those are the only two current playoff teams left on their schedule.

“I think that’s two playoff-type games,” Seguin said. “In the regular season, that’s the closest you’re going to get, so I think we rose to the occasion when we’ve met these games. That’s great. I don’t think, as a team, or as individuals, you can just flip a switch going into playoffs.

“You’ve got to be playing playoff hockey going into it. That’s why, sometimes, you see the lesser seeds come out and have upsets. It’s because they’re playing these games, fighting for our lives. That’s all positive.”

OT strategy: Bowness trotted out Radek Faksa, Luke Glendening and Miro Heiskanen to begin overtime on Thursday night, using two of his most defensive-minded forwards in 3 on 3 overtime.

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Bowness has used this strategy before in an attempt to win the opening faceoff with Faksa, or defend the other team’s best players in case the Stars lose the faceoff. Then he’ll put out Hintz and Robertson on the next shift.

The biggest issue is that the Stars never got sustained puck possession during Thursday night’s overtime. Faksa lost the draw to Joel Eriksson Ek, and Gaudreau ended the game 100 seconds into the extra period.

“We thought that Eriksson Ek was going to take the faceoff and change and get [Mats Zuccarello] out there,” Bowness said. “I just told him a heads up for that. We won the first draw, they blew the whistle. We lost the second draw, that’s OK. You’ve just got to be careful, some teams will send out the centerman, get the draw and make a change. We were just telling both him and Glenny, just heads up, somebody might be coming off the bench. We lost the draw, so.”

It was the seventh game that Faksa has started overtime. He has won four of the seven faceoffs. The Stars are 3-4 in games when Faksa starts overtime. They are 11-1 in games when Faksa does not start overtime.

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Entering overtime, Faksa won two out of four faceoffs on Thursday.

“Faksy’s been winning a lot of faceoffs,” Bowness said. “We’ve done it before, just get control of the puck and then you come back with Roope and Robo, and then you come back with Seggy and Jamie. We wanted to get control of the puck.”

‘No brainer’: For the first time since joining the Stars last month, goaltender Scott Wedgewood started consecutive games, following up his shutout on Tuesday night by starting against the Wild on Thursday night.

“Playing pretty good,” Stars coach Rick Bowness said. “Got a shutout. I think that’s a no-brainer.”

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Against the Lightning, Wedgewood stopped all 25 shots he faced in backstopping the Stars to a 1-0 win over Tampa Bay. It was the fifth shutout of his career, and his fourth start with Dallas.

Wedgewood’s start meant more rest for Jake Oettinger, who has not had a two-game break in almost three months. The last time Oettinger watched twice in a row was Jan. 20 and 21 at Buffalo and Detroit, when Braden Holtby started both ends of a back-to-back.

Volume shooter: Seguin finished with nine shots on goal on Thursday night, which tied his season-high set on Jan. 18 against Montreal.

“Last little while, getting those opportunities, which is a good thing,” Seguin said. “I don’t know how many shots I had, but I feel like I had some good looks. You’d like to see a couple go in.”

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Seguin has 32 points in his last 38 games.

Briefly: In the third period, Joe Pavelski was bleeding from a stick to the face that went uncalled.

“That was an unfortunate shot there, it was,” Bowness said. “They missed it.” … Forward Alexander Radulov re-entered the Stars lineup on Thursday night after he missed Tuesday’s game because he was sick. With Vladislav Namestnikov week-to-week with a lower-body injury, no other forward had to come out of the lineup in order to make space for Radulov’s return.

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