Stars Beat Jets
DALLAS — For much of this season, the Dallas Stars have been able to convert on the power play when they needed to.
That was the case again Thursday, when left winger Jamie Benn delivered a power-play goal with 5:55 remaining and the game tied 3-3 in an eventual 6-3 Stars’ win against the Winnipeg Jets at American Airlines Center.
Benn knocked a rebound off the far post and in after Jets goaltender Ondrej Pavelec, who stopped 28 of 32 shots before departing the ice with 2:21 remaining, denied the initial slap shot from center Tyler Seguin. Dallas went on the power play with 6:32 remaining after Jets defenseman Dustin Byfuglien was called for holding.
“Just a lot of good work by the other four guys. I pretty much stand in front and tap them in,” Benn said.
Dallas had successfully killed off a double-minor on Seguin for high sticking several minutes before the Byfulgien penalty.
“We have an opportunity to go ahead,” Jets coach Paul Maurice said of the four-minute power play. “We can’t make it and they score on that one. It’s better than our last effort, not good enough to win the game and we keep working.”
Stars goaltender Kari Lehtonen stopped 35 of 38 shots to
earn his fourth consecutive win.
“It was great to see him (Lehtonen) battle,” Stars coach Lindy Ruff said. “He gave us three or four real good saves when we needed them.”
Right winger Blake Wheeler and defensemen Jacob Trouba and Tyler Myers scored for Winnipeg, which lost its third straight.
Myers tied the game at 3-3 at 9:17 of the third period when he beat Lehtonen far post with a wrist shot from the high slot, but the Jets could never regain their lead.
Dallas added late empty-net goals from left winger Antoine Roussel and center Vernon Fiddler.
“I thought the way we were playing in the third period, I was very comfortable with the lead,” Ruff said. “I thought a great kill in the third period when we needed that, and followed by the power play that got the job done for us. We’ve been working hard on our empty-net situation, and it came through for us.”
Right winger Ales Hemsky had a goal and two assists; Fiddler, defenseman John Klingberg and center Colton Sceviour a goal and an assist each while defenseman Johnny Oduya and Seguin each had two assists.
Dallas capitalized on an early Winnipeg penalty, getting a power-play goal from Klingberg 2:32 into the game to take an early lead. Klingberg scored with a wrist shot from the high slot that beat Pavelec top shelf to his short side.
However, the Dallas lead didn’t last long. Winnipeg went from down 1-0 to ahead 2-1 with two goals in 18 seconds.
Wheeler opened the scoring for the visitors with his eighth goal of the season at 4:13 of the first. After center Bryan Little passed Wheeler the puck via a carom off the boards, Wheeler’s wrist shot from the far edge of the left circle beat Lehtonen to his short side.
Eighteen seconds later, Trouba scored his first goal of the season off a rebound to give Winnipeg its first lead at 2-1. Jets center Adam Lowry tried to hit right winger Chris Thorburn on the rush, but Lowry’s pass instead hit Thorburn’s skate. Lehtonen denied that carom but left the rebound in the middle of the crease and Trouba poked it in.
Dallas tied it late in the first when Sceviour scored his first of the season at 12:38. Oduya hit the crossbar with a slap shot from near the Winnipeg blue line. The puck landed in front of Sceviour, who scored through Pavelec’s five-hole for the equalizer.
The Stars regained the lead 3:17 into the second when Hemsky scored off a breakaway. Defenseman Jordie Benn hit Hemsky near center ice with a pass from the Dallas red line. Hemsky scored to Pavelec’s right with a well-placed wrist shot from the slot.
