As the puck rolled into the Wild's zone, goaltender Alex Stalock realized he had two options.
He could leave the puck and let the officials call icing against the Lightning, or he could field it and initiate an attack while Tampa Bay was changing.
"I'd take an odd-man rush over an offensive-zone faceoff any day," he said.
Not only did the Wild get the look Stalock wanted, but it capitalized on it — sealing a 5-4 overtime win Saturday in front of 19,080 at Xcel Energy Center to sweep a weekend back-to-back, extend its winning streak to three games and embark on a four-day break with a 4-2-2 record.
"It worked out," Stalock said.
After retrieving the dump-in, Stalock fed the puck off the boards and up the ice to Charlie Coyle. He dished off to Mikael Granlund, and Granlund slung a shot through Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy 3 minutes, 43 seconds into the extra period — his second career overtime goal — to secure a result the Wild looked like it deserved since the second period.
"We know he can handle the puck," coach Bruce Boudreau said of Stalock, who racked up 27 saves to go along with his second career assist. It was also the first by a goalie in franchise history to set up an overtime goal. "He's a smart guy, so he sees what's going on out there. I bow to his thought process."
Although the team looked rejuvenated by the end, it didn't have the same jump in the first period and tripped into a two-goal hole.