Stars Beat Senators
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DALLAS — With the Dallas Stars on a four-game losing streak, they needed a hero. Well, they got two with rookie defenseman John Klingberg scoring twice and backup goaltender Anders Lindback stopping 34 shots in relief as the Stars held off the Ottawa Senators 5-4 on Tuesday at American Airlines Center.
“I felt good,” Lindback said. “I thought I played calmer than I have been, with a little more poise.”
Dallas (19-16-7) trailed 3-1 after one, but erupted for four unanswered in the second, getting two from Klingberg and one each from defenseman Trevor Daley and left winger Erik Cole to lead 5-3 after two.
“We came together and said we have to have a better second period and put more shots on net,” Klingberg said.
Defenseman Bobby Ryan and right winger Mark Stone had two assists for Ottawa.
Stars defenseman Alex Goligoski and left winger Travis Moen each had two assists. Cole and right winger Ales Hemsky added a goal and an assist apiece.
Lindback relieved starting goaltender Kari Lehtonen early in the second after Lehtonen
allowed three goals on five shots, the fourth time Lehtonen has been pulled this season.
“I didn’t like the first two goals,” Stars coach Lindy Ruff said. “I just thought he (Lehtonen) has been struggling a little bit and I’m not going to wait. It’s an early one, but we needed Lindback to step in.”
The visitors took a lead 4:57 into the game when center Mike Hoffman scored his 15th of the season with a wrist shot from the right circle that beat Lehtonen far post.
Dallas nearly answered at 6:15 of the first when a backhand by center Shawn Horcoff got behind Senators goaltender Robin Lehner, but defenseman Eric Gryba cleared the puck from the crease.
The Senators went ahead 2-0 when left winger Clarke MacArthur delivered a power-play goal at 10:30, beating Lehtonen high to the far post with a shot from the right circle.
Ottawa was on the power play after a hooking call on Daley at 8:43.
Dallas broke through with 3:52 remaining in the second when Hemsky scored his seventh with a low slap shot from the right circle that beat Lehner far post.
Ottawa took a 3-1 lead into the first intermission after defenseman Jared Cowen popped in a rebound with 2:05 remaining in the first.
Daley started the second-period flurry with his 10th of the season 2:38 into the period with a slap shot from near the Ottawa blue line that beat Lehner high to the far post.
Klingberg then made it 3-2 with his fifth of the season at 8:43. Klingberg took a cross-ice pass from center Colton Sceviour before beating Lehner with a low wrist shot from the edge of the right circle that sailed in under Lehner’s blocker.
Dallas took its first lead with 2:41 remaining in the second when Cole redirected a Goligoski slap shot from near the blue line for a power-play goal after Ottawa defenseman Erik Karlsson was whistled for interference with 4:38 remaining.
Cole’s goal was briefly reviewed to determine if his stick was too high on the redirect, but the goal was deemed valid.
Klingberg added a second nine seconds before the second intermission off the rush.
Ottawa cut it to 5-4 early in the third when left winger Milan Michalek tapped in a rebound for a power-play goal. Lindback denied a backhand by right winger Alex Chiasson, but the rebound fell to Michalek and he converted for his fifth of the season.
Lehner, who stopped 24 of 29 shots, left the net with 1:38 remaining but the Senators couldn’t find the equalizer.
“We’re not going to look at this game and say we lost this game because of Robin Lehner by any means. We didn’t,” Senators coach Dave Cameron said. “We lost this game as a team effort. We lost this game because we gave up four goals in the second period.”
