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 Haula started the game at center and had a goal and an assist as
Minnesota rallied from an early two-goal deficit to beat the Dallas
Stars 5-3 on Monday in Game 3 of their best-of-seven first-round
playoff series.
Jason Pominville scored twice while Chris Porter and Mikko Koivu
also had goals for Minnesota, which had lost its previous six
consecutive playoff games.
"That's what everyone feels like, that the series was over before it
even started," Haula said. "We don't care if we're the only ones who
believe we can beat that team. We're just going to go out there,
battle for 60 minutes, give it all we've got and try to prove
everyone wrong."
Devan Dubnyk had 14 saves for the Wild, who were the eighth seed in
the West and now trail Dallas 2-1 in the series.
 Patrick Sharp scored twice in the opening five minutes for the
Stars, who had won the series' first two games in Dallas, holding
Minnesota to just one goal in the process. But they could not hold
the lead on Monday despite a 20-save effort from goalie Kari
Lehtonen. Colton Sceviour added a late goal for the Stars, who are
the top seed in the West.
"Give them credit, they played a good game, they played with a lot
of speed and scored some timely goals," said Sharp, who played for
Chicago last season when the Blackhawks swept Minnesota in the
second round of the playoffs. "You could tell that they fed off the
energy of their fans. It was a fun game to be a part of so we'll
take what we can as far as positives from this game and be ready for
Game 4."
Haula, who had missed the first game of the series with a lower-body
injury, had a career-best 14 goals in the regular season, and has
emerged as an offensive catalyst for Minnesota, especially with
forwards Zach Parise and Thomas Vanek missing from the lineup due to
injury.
"He gives us so much confidence on the penalty kill, down low,
exits, speed, and that line really works well," said Wild interim
coach John Torchetti, praising the line of Haula, Pominville and
Nino Niederreiter. "They complement each other, they talk on the
bench, they make adjustments as they go along, and they do a really
good job. They play for each other, and that's why they're a very
successful line."
With Minnesota leading 3-2 after 40 minutes, Koivu gave the Wild a
two-goal lead with a power-play goal early in the third period. But
Dallas answered with some puck luck, as a shot from the blue line by
Dallas defenseman Jason Demers deflected off the hand of a Wild
player, hit Sceviour in the chest and landed in the net, pulling the
Stars back within a goal.
Pominville put his second goal of the game into an empty net with 74
seconds left, as the Wild won for the first time since March 29.
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Dallas needed just 26 seconds to effectively take the raucous crowd
out of the game, at least for a time. Wild defenseman Ryan Suter's
backhand clearing attempt from behind the net was intercepted by
Stars defender Alex Goligoski along the boards. He shot a waist-high
puck toward Dubnyk, and Sharp deflected it past the goalie for a 1-0
Stars lead on the game's first shift.
Sharp doubled the Dallas lead four minutes later, taking a long lead
pass from Cody Eakin and blasting a low shot past Dubnyk's glove
hand.
After Dallas killed the game's first penalty, Porter got Minnesota
on the board with less than a minute to play in the first period.
Wild defenseman Jonas Brodin worked the puck to Haula at the blue
line and Haula shot wide of the net to the right. But Porter was
there and was able to reach around a Goligoski and re-direct the
puck. It beat Lehtonen low, making it 2-1 and re-igniting the
Minnesota crowd.
"We did a great job as a team re-grouping after they scored two
there," Porter said. "Not the start we wanted. We wanted to get the
crowd into it early. But we did a great job of settling down and
getting the fans back into it. They kind of carried us there in the
second and third."
The second period was all Minnesota, as the Wild dominated early in
the period and tied the game on Haula's first of the playoffs.
Pominville put a shot on net that Haula tipped past Lehtonen. Dallas
made a push in the middle of the period, but couldn't solve Dubnyk.
"We didn't play near as well as we needed to play. That's probably
as bad as I've seen us play in maybe five weeks," Dallas coach Lindy
Ruff said. "A lot of it was execution. Playmaking, our transition
game from defense to forwards, we turned over some pucks that cost
us goals. We turned over plenty of pucks. As soon as we got it deep,
we created something, we were just slow."
The Wild took their first lead of the series in the final minute of
the second period. The teams were skating 4-on-4 when Pominville
capped a rush to the net, popping a shot past Lehtonen on the glove
side.
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