Short-Handed Goals Put Stars Over Bruins 5-3
Follow CBSDFW.COM: Facebook | Twitter
BOSTON (AP) - The Dallas Stars were at their best when they were down a man.
Vernon Fiddler and Trevor Daley scored short-handed goals for the Stars, and Kari Lehtonen stopped 41 shots in Dallas' 5-3 win over the Boston Bruins on Tuesday night.
Jamie Benn scored twice for the Stars, who ended Boston's run as the only remaining NHL team that hadn't allowed a short-handed goal.
"We had a lot of tough situations in pretty much the whole game," said Benn, who scored the last two goals of the first period to put the Stars up 3-1.
Dallas got outshot 44-32 and was also hampered by a stomach bug that limited leading scorer Tyler Seguin, who played through the illness but managed just two shots against his former team.
Fiddler gave the Stars a 1-0 lead while Dallas was killing off a 5-minute major. Daley added Dallas' second short-handed goal with Boston on another extended power play in the second.
"It was a different type of game," Dallas coach Lindy Ruff said. "It looked like Boston was making a push when Daley scored his short-handed goal. It kind of turned the momentum back in our favor and I thought we played a pretty smart game after that."
Daley's goal gave Dallas the lead for good after Boston had rallied from a 3-1 deficit to tie it on goals by Patrice Bergeron and Dougie Hamilton.
Seguin entered tied for the NHL scoring lead with 59 points. He sat out the morning skate and said if the game was in any other city, he might have sat it out.
"I definitely tried to keep things simple out there and play good defense," he said. "I was happy to walk away with two points. That was a big win for us."
Outside the arena, Boston continued digging out from another winter storm, this one strong enough to shut down the city's subways, trolleys and commuter rail trains. The NHL announced Tuesday afternoon that the game would go on as scheduled because of conflicts with finding a makeup date.
The Stars only had to travel from New York after beating the Rangers 3-2 in overtime Sunday.
Niklas Svedberg was pulled after allowing three goals on 10 shots in the first. Tuukka Rask played the final two periods for the Bruins and finished with 20 saves. Both goalies were on the bench as Boston tried to tie it with six skaters when Erik Cole scored into an empty net with 33 seconds to play.
"I think everyone was obviously frustrated by everything," Hamilton said. "We're obviously trying. We want to win, and it's just frustrating when things don't go your way."
Boston didn't allow a short-handed goal in its first 53 games. Fiddler changed that while the Bruins were on a 5-minute power play after Dallas' Antoine Roussell received a major penalty and game misconduct for cross-checking.
Bergeron pulled Boston to 3-2 on a short-handed goal early in the second, then Hamilton tied it 6:42 into the period.
Boston was on a 4-minute power play later in the period when Daley beat Rask and put Dallas back up 4-3.
(© Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
