Benn Scores Twice As Stars Top Flames 4-2
Follow The Fan: Facebook | Twitter
CALGARY, Alberta (AP) - Jamie Benn snapped out of an early season slump in a big way Thursday night.
The Dallas Stars captain ended a nine-game scoring drought with two goals, including the game-winner, in a 4-2 victory over the struggling Calgary Flames.
"It seems like I go through a streak like that every year. It just so happened to come pretty early this year," said Benn, who only had two goals in his first 13 games after a career-best 41 last season.
When an offensive-zone penalty by Alex Chiasson put the Stars on the power play early in the third with the score tied, it took less than a minute for Dallas to convert with Benn firing a feed from Tyler Seguin past Brian Elliott to make it 3-2.
"He was really buzzing out there tonight," Seguin said. "That's what we needed. We needed a leader, especially our captain, to lead the way after the embarrassing loss we had the other night."
The Stars were routed 8-2 on Tuesday in Winnipeg, to extend their winless skid to five games.
"We all knew that eventually he would come out of it. But I thought tonight, obviously, it was the best game he's played in a while," Dallas coach Lindy Ruff said. "He came out physical. He started with that. I thought he was skating and going through people."
Special teams was the story with Dallas converting on its lone third-period power play and Calgary failing to score on its one chance, which came with just over 4 minutes remaining.
The Stars finished 1 for 3 with the extra man while Calgary was 0 for 2. It's become a familiar story line for the Flames with the power play ranked 30th and the penalty kill 29th.
"Three mistakes," said Flames coach Glen Gulutzan, when asked about the go-ahead goal. "Make two, it's probably going to end up in your net. You make three and it's going to end up in your net."
Captain Mark Giordano says it's on the players to improve their performance.
"We've talked about it. The guys, who are playing PP and PK, we've got to get the job done," he said.
Lauri Korpikoski and Antoine Roussel, with an empty-netter, also scored for Dallas (5-6-3). The Stars five-game trip continues Friday in Edmonton.
Johnny Gaudreau scored both goals for Calgary (5-9-1). The Flames have lost five of six overall.
"We're finding ways to lose," Gulutzan said. "We need somebody now to step up and find a way to win and stop playing the victim."
With the Flames trailing 2-0, Gaudreau came out flying to start the second, breaking a six-game scoring drought with his third and fourth goals on his first two shifts to pull Calgary even.
"It was nice to find the net finally," said Gaudreau, who scored 30 goals in his sophomore season. "Me, (Monahan) and (Chiasson) played a good 60 minutes tonight. We were in their zone most of the night."
Calgary opened the game taking the play to the Stars and running up an 8-1 lead on the shot clock. But they could not beat Lehtonen and at 12:31, Korpiskoski snapped a shot into the top corner.
Benn made it 2-0 3 minutes later when the entire slot opened up before him and he took the puck to the net, zipping a backhand past Elliott.
It was a better night for Kari Lehtonen after giving up four goals on 11 shots against the Jets. He finished with 29 saves to improve to 2-4-2.
Elliott, who had 18 saves, fell to 3-7-0.
NOTES
Calgary is 0 for 26 with the extra man at home. Gaudreau's parents were in the crowd, having just flown in from New Jersey. Flames rookie Matthew Tkachuk did play after getting stitches in his hand at practice on Wednesday. He's day to day. Stars D Jamie Oleksiak was in the lineup after being a healthy scratch the past nine games.
UP NEXT
Stars: Visit Edmonton on Friday.
Flames: Host the New York Rangers on Saturday.
(© Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
