The Dallas Stars defeated the Minnesota Wild 2-1 at Grand Casino Arena on Friday, leaning on a late second-period goal from Thomas Harley to decide the preseason contest. Goaltender Casey DeSmith turned aside 26 shots to keep Dallas in front through a scoreless third period.
Radek Faksa opened the scoring for Dallas 9:18 into the first period, converting an even-strength wrist shot after setups from Oskar Bäck and Joel Kiviranta. Minnesota evened the score 1:54 into the second period when Joel Eriksson Ek solved DeSmith with an even-strength wrist shot assisted by Blake Coleman and Matt Boldy.
Harley restored the Dallas lead for good at 18:38 of the second period. Set up by Mikko Rantanen and Jamie Benn, Harley beat Jesper Wallstedt with an even-strength wrist shot to make it 2-1. Wallstedt finished the evening with 16 saves on 18 shots for Minnesota.
Discipline was tested throughout the night as both teams accumulated 43 penalty minutes each. Dallas finished 0 for 4 on the power play, while the Wild also went 0 for 4 with the man advantage despite putting up a 27-18 advantage in total shots on goal.
The Stars host the Boston Bruins in their next game on Tuesday, October 20. Minnesota will travel to visit the Edmonton Oilers that same night.
