Stars Beat Jets

DALLAS — Looking to end their three-game losing streak, the Dallas Stars were determined to do whatever it took to return to the win column.

And thanks to right winger Patrick Sharp scoring the clinching goal in the shootout and goaltender Kari Lehtonen stopping 32 of 33 shots, the Stars edged the Winnipeg Jets, 2-1 on Thursday at American Airlines Center.

“Coming off the (0-2-1) road trip, I still sense the energy is low on the team, but I thought we played smarter, and that’s probably the difference in the game,” Stars coach Lindy Ruff said.

After Stars center Tyler Seguin beat Jets rookie goaltender Connor Hellebuyck through his five-hole on Dallas’ first attempt, Lehtonen stopped an attempt by right winger Blake Wheeler.

Sharp then beat Hellebuyck with a backhand top shelf. Jets left winger Andrew Ladd kept the visitors alive with a shot under Lehtonen’s glove. Dallas clinched the win when center Bryan Little saw his shot sail high on Winnipeg’s third attempt.

“It was a big game for a lot of reasons. We weren’t happy with the way we played last road trip, but it’s a Central Division opponent, we’re on home ice. For any number of reasons, you can

circle this one,” Sharp said. “We can be happy we got the two points, but we can still play better than I think we did tonight. But we’ll take the positive out of it and take the win.”

Dallas (29-10-4) got its lone goal in regulation from Seguin.

“I thought (Lehtonen) looked real solid,” Ruff said. “We stayed away from the breakaways, the 2-on-1’s, that type of stuff, but he looked every comfortable and very confident.”

Winnipeg (19-19-3), which finished its five-game road trip at 2-2-1, got its lone goal from center Mathieu Perreault. Hellebuyck stopped 23 of 24 shots in a losing effort.

“We gave up four shots in the second period against a really good hockey club. Really liked Tyler Myers’ game. I thought Mathieu Perreault again, really on the puck, driving that line,” Jets coach Paul Maurice said. “I’m glad we got a point because I think we earned that point.”

Seguin gave Dallas an early lead with his 24th goal of the season 7:55 into the game. After Sharp’s attempted pass from behind the Winnipeg goal deflected off the stick of Jets defenseman Jacob Trouba and landed at Seguin’s skates, Seguin finished with a wrist shot from the slot that sailed in under the Hellebuyck’s glove.

Seguin’s 24 goals ties him with Stars left winger Jamie Benn and St. Louis right winger Vladimir Tarasenko for the NHL lead. Seguin’s 51 points rank third in the League.

“(Sharp) is a really smart veteran, and he’s a really big shoot-first guy,” Seguin said. “Sometimes when Jamie (Benn) and I are trying to be a little too fancy and look for each other, he’s the guy that once he gets it, he’s not looking, he’s shooting.”

Sharp’s assist gives him a point in 11 consecutive games, the longest streak of his career.

The Jets pulled things level early in the second when Perreault scored his fifth goal of the season on a wrist shot from the slot. Jets defenseman Tyler Myers started the sequence with a pass off the boards to right winger Nikolaj Ehlers.

Ehlers then fed a streaking Perreault, who scored his sixth goal of the season with a flick that went under Lehtonen’s blocker 6:47 into the middle frame.

“Yeah, we did a pretty good job. In the second, we only gave them four shots. Given that they’re the top team in our division, conference and the league as well, we were able to kind of shut them down,” Perreault said. “There was some positive out of that game. Obviously, it’s not the result we wanted, but it’s a big point for us.”

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