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Koivu's shootout goal lifts Wild past Stars

Feb 21, 2007 - 5:58 AM ST. PAUL, Minnesota (Ticker) -- Minnesota's Mikko Koivu has been excellent in shootouts this season, and he again showed why.

Koivu scored the decisive goal in the third round of the shootout to lift the Wild to a 2-1 victory over the Dallas Stars.

Minnesota, which snapped a six-game winless streak against Dallas, is 25-4-1 at home.

The center skated in on goaltender Marty Turco in the bonus format and roofed a backhand over him for the winner. He is 8-for-13 in shootouts this season.

"It's always a bit of luck in the shootout," Koivu said. "That was the backhand tonight. I try to change it up once in a while. The goalie knows a lot of the players already so it's good to have a few moves."

That's his move in the shootout, he does it a lot," Turco said. "I'm not a guesser, and today he just got me with a good move. He comes in so fast, that makes it tough."

Brian Rolston gave the Wild a 1-0 lead at 18:20 of the second period on the power play. He took Koivu's pass from behind the net and beat goaltender Niklas Backstrom.

"I was just in the right place at the right time," Rolston said. "Mikko did a great job of getting the puck. I just had to backhand it into the empty net."

"I saw Turco stopped the puck and I just tried to get my stick down," Koivu said. "I saw something green in front of the net and tried to throw it not too hard. Rolston was there and he got it in."

Dallas' Niklas Hagman tied the game at 1-1 just 39 seconds later when he poked Jussi Jokinen's rebound past Turco on the backhand. He entered with just one goal in his last 10 contests.

"He (Backstrom) is a good friend, maybe that has helped," Hagman said. "Because the last two games, I have two goals against him. The puck was bouncing a bit, I got a lucky bounce and was able to get it on my backhand. He got out a little to far."

Backstrom, who made 23 saves, is 3-0 in shootouts this season. He rebounded from a subpar outing in allowing five goals on 25 shots in a 5-3 loss to the St. Louis Blues on Sunday.

The netminder denied defenseman Sergei Zubov, Jokinen and Mike Ribeiro in the bonus format.

"We had a shootout with them before and so you learn from that," Backstrom said. "As I get more experience with the shootout, I've learned to be patient and try not to commit. You have in mind a couple of moves they might use, and try to wait for them to make the move."

"He (Backstrom) was great, very patient in the shootout," Minnesota coach Jacques Lemaire said. "The guys that shot on the other side, you know they're pretty good, and he was right on top of it there."

Turco, battling the flu, recorded a season-high 38 saves for the Stars, who won the season series with the Wild, 3-1. Three of the four games were decided by shootouts.

Minnesota's Pavol Demitra was held without a point, which ended his streak at nine. He had five goals and nine assists in that span.