Stars Win At Boston

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BOSTON — The Dallas Stars have an uphill battle in front of them to get into the NHL playoffs.

But if they do get there, they might point to two road games in February as the thing that gave them their push.

After losing the opener of a three-game road trip at lowly Buffalo, the Stars responded with wins over the New York Rangers Sunday and then scored the first two short-handed goals Boston allowed all season and beat the Bruins 5-3 on Tuesday night.

“To come back against the Rangers, have a big two points and then obviously in this building … to come out tonight with two points is huge for our team,” defenseman Trevor Daley said after his shorthanded goal snapped a 3-3 tie in the second period.

Stars coach Lindy Ruff said he met with his “leadership group” after the loss in Buffalo and so far the results have been good for a team that started play Tuesday five points out of the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference.

Dallas shook off a late tying goal by the Rangers and won in overtime and then overcame all kinds of adversity Tuesday.

“Our backs are against the wall coming down the stretch here,” said center Jamie Benn, who scored two goals, his 17th and 18th of the season. “We need points bad and we got a big two tonight.”

The Stars scored while killing a major penalty in the first period and then, after

blowing a two-goal lead, scored again while a man short, this time during a double minor in the second.

They lost left winger Antoine Roussel to ejection after he cross-checked defenseman Adam McQuaid to the throat early in the game. Defenseman Jason Demers missed a chunk of the game getting stitches in his lip, and three players, including center and top scorer — and former Bruins — Tyler Seguin, were battling illness.

Seguin, sent back to the hotel before being a game-time decision, spent a good part of his night throwing up, but still logged 18:01 and was a plus-1. Asked after the game how he felt, Seguin said, “Not great. I definitely tried to keep things simple out there and play good defense. I was happy we could walk away with the win. That was a big win for us.

“It was a tough one. I just wanted to play in Boston. I couldn’t not play. If we were playing someplace else, maybe I wouldn’t have gone, but I thought it was a pretty solid win for our team.”

Center Vernon Fiddler and Daley, both victimizing Bruins center David Krejci playing the point on the power play, scored as the Bruins became the last team in the NHL to surrender a short-handed goal this season.

Fiddler scored on a breakaway after Roussel was tossed. Benn then answered a Krejci goal with his pair. Bruins backup goalie Niklas Svedberg, fresh off a four-game conditioning stint in the AHL, was gone after three goals on 10 shots in the first period. He came out to the crease to start the second, but was replaced by Tuukka Rask, who had started the previous 11 games.

The Bruins came back to tie the game on a quick short-handed goal by center Patrice Bergeron (his 15th goal of the season) and then a tally by defenseman Dougie Hamilton. Daley then came through with his 14th of the year.

The rest was up to Dallas goaltender Kari Lehtonen, who made 41 saves, and left winger Erik Cole’s long and winding clearance that rolled into an empty net with 32.8 seconds left.

Rask allowed just the one goal on 21 shots but was charged with the loss, the Bruins’ second straight and third in the last four — as they prepare to head out for a five-game Western Conference journey.

While his coach, Claude Julien, questioned the team’s grit, Krejci said, “I thought we played 10 good minutes then we got away from our game plan. We played really badly; poor decisions. Then again in the second period, really good 10 minutes and then went downhill again. For some reason, we weren’t able to play a full 60 minutes; that’s why we lost today.”

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