Niemi Makes 28 Saves, Stars Beat Jets 3-2
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DALLAS (AP) - Antti Niemi made 28 saves and the Dallas Stars beat the Winnipeg Jets 3-2 on Tuesday night.
The win salvaged the last game of Dallas' 1-1-1 home stand. Winnipeg lost its second straight and fourth in five games.
Brett Ritchie, Patrick Eaves and Tyler Seguin scored for the Stars.
The goals against Niemi came in the closing seconds of the second and third periods. Joel Armia beat him to the puck to score with 5 seconds left in the second, and Mark Scheifele put in a rebound on the power play with 9 seconds to play in the third.
Niemi made two big saves while the game was scoreless in the first period. He stopped a breakaway by Alexander Burmistrov and a shot by Scheifele on a 2-on-1.
Seconds later, the Stars had a 2-on-1. Curtis McKenzie passed back into the slot to Ritchie, who sent a wrist shot past Michael Hutchinson at 14:37 and Dallas never trailed again.
Hutchinson had 23 saves.
Stars rookie Devin Shore had two assists.
Dallas spent most of the first 5 minutes of the second period killing two penalties.
The teams skated 4-on-4 for 35 seconds before Eaves scored his 100th career goal from high in the slot at 5:02. Shore passed from behind the net to set up the goal. Another assist went to Justin Dowling, in his NHL debut after playing 324 games in the minor leagues.
Armia took the puck away from Niemi behind the net and scored his first goal on a wraparound. Niemi had stopped two other good chances by Armia earlier in the second.
Seguin scored at 7:27 of the third period with a wrist shot from the right faceoff circle.
NOTES: Dallas had been 1 for 13 on the power play during the 10 previous periods before Eaves' goal. Winnipeg's challenge that the Stars had interfered with Hutchinson was denied. . Winnipeg's power play had been 1 for 18 in the last five games before Scheifele's goal.
Statistically, the Jets dominated the second period. They outshot Dallas 13-7 and won 12 of 17 faceoffs. . Armia had scored two goals in Winnipeg's last visit to Dallas, a 6-3 win on Feb. 25. . The Jets have pulled their goalie in the closing minutes in all six games this season.
UP NEXT
Jets: They will host Dallas on Thursday in the back end of two home-and-home games.
Stars: Dallas will travel to Winnipeg to face the Jets on Thursday.
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