Stars Lead Series 2-0 After Beating Wild 2-1
DALLAS (AP) — Antoine Roussel scored from behind the net without the puck touching a stick and Jamie Benn had an unassisted goal and the Dallas Stars beat the Minnesota Wild 2-1 on Saturday night for a 2-0 lead in their Western Conference playoff series.
The Stars scored first on Roussel's strange goal about 4 minutes into the second period, when the puck ricocheted off the skates of Ales Hemsky and Roussel without either getting a stick on it.
Benn scored on a breakaway that he ended with a backhand to make it 2-0 with 9:37 left in the game, and that was big since the Wild got their first goal of the series soon after that.
Marco Scandella scored on a power play, making a slap shot from well above the left circle with 7:18 left.
The first-round series shifts to Minnesota for Game 3 on Monday night.
Kari Lehtonen stopped 25 of 26 shots, including a last flurry by the Wild with an extra skater in the final seconds. He was back in net for the Stars after stopping 22 shots in the 4-0 win in Game 1, his second postseason shutout.
The Wild had two extra skaters for the final 5.7 seconds after a penalty, but the Stars quickly cleared the puck after the faceoff from the circle to Lehtonen's right.
Minnesota has lost seven games in a row, having gotten into the playoffs after losing its last five regular-season games. The Wild have also lost six postseason games in a row, having been swept by eventual Stanley Cup champion Chicago in the second round of last year's playoffs.
Devan Dubnyk stopped 26 of 28 shots, but the Wild goalie never saw the puck that went in to put Dallas ahead to stay.
Scandella was trying to clear the puck behind the net when it instead ricocheted off the skate of Hemsky toward Roussel and then popped up off his skate and over the net into the back of Dubnyk's head. The puck slid down the goalie's back and dropped onto the ice as the net became dislodged.
An on-ice official quickly waved off the goal. But after a lengthy review, which showed the net didn't come loose until Dubnyk backed into it, the Stars were awarded the goal.
All-Star center Tyler Seguin was back on the ice for Dallas for the first time in a month, since sustaining a small cut in his left Achilles tendon on March 17 that required surgery. He had missed 11 games, the last 10 games of the regular season and the playoff opener.
Seguin, who had 73 points in 72 regular-season games, was on the ice for 15:40 with one shot on goal.
Notes: Minnesota was 1 for 5 on the power play. Dallas was 0 for 5, and is 1 for 11 in the series. ... Hemsky, back in the playoffs for the first time in 10 years, has an assist in both games in the series. ... Benn, who had five shots on goal Saturday night, also had a goal in the first game, an empty-netter. ... Dubnyk had a sprawling save, securing the puck when on his stomach in front of the net, after Benn's slap shot off a rebound with about 13 minutes left in the game.
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