Minnesota coach Bruce Boudreau picked the perfect spot to use Chris Stewart in the shootout against Dallas.

Stewart, best known for his physical play, scored in the fifth round of the tiebreaker to lift the Wild past the Stars 3-2 on Tuesday night.

“I asked him how he was feeling,” Wild coach Bruce Boudreau said. “I didn’t want him to go where he had to tie it up. I wanted him to have to go and win it.”

Wild goalie Devan Dubnyk stopped Jason Spezza to begin the fifth round before Stewart’s shot won the game.

Patrick Eaves and Jamie Benn had scored for the Stars earlier in the shootout, but Jason Pominville and Mikko Koivu matched them.

Stewart has 1,134 penalty minutes and 147 goals in his career. He moved the puck to his backhand and slid the puck in under Dallas goalie Kari Lehtonen, who got a piece of it. Stewart has 1,134 penalty minutes and 147 goals in his career.

Dallas was the last NHL team to play a shootout game this season. The Wild improved to 2-2 in the tiebreaker.

The Stars had a two-man rush with about a minute left in the overtime, but Lauri Korpikoski passed to Cody Eakin, who shot over the net.

“I knew Korpikoski was tired,” Dubnyk said. “He’d been out there for a while, so I figured he probably wasn’t going to lean on one.”

Boudreau couldn’t bear to look at the play.

“Then I heard the crowd not cheering,” he said. “When it’s a 3-on-0, you’ve got to think something bad’s coming up.”

Dallas coach Lindy Ruff saw his team lose its second game in a row that went past regulation time.

“We had a 2-on-0 and don’t capitalize, we’re one shooter away and don’t capitalize. Missed opportunities.”

Pominville and Koivu scored in regulation for Minnesota, and Dubnyk had 35 saves through overtime.

Eaves and Tyler Seguin scored for Dallas and Lehtonen finished with 31 saves. Spezza had two assists.

Minnesota took a 1-0 lead with 6:25 left in the first period. Dallas’ Patrick Sharp shot wide, and the puck bounced hard off the boards almost to the blue line. Pominville picked up the puck, skated in 2-on-1 with Erik Haula and fired a wrist shot inside Lehtonen to the upper right corner of the net.