Stars’ defense shuts down Red Wings
DETROIT — Jason Spezza responded to being benched by scoring two tiebreaking goals on power plays, helping the Dallas Stars beat the Detroit Red Wings 4-2 on Tuesday night.
Spezza scored on a lunging, one-timer below the left circle with 5:52 left in the second period. His first goal came on a redirected shot midway through the first.
The 33-year-old forward was a healthy scratch on Monday when Dallas won at Boston in overtime. He bounced back by ending his 14-game goal drought, scoring twice in a game for the first time since March 12, 2016. Spezza scored 33 goals just two years ago and has 323 career goals.
Dallas’ Radek Faksa and Martin Hanzal also scored. Ben Bishop stopped 13 shots for the Stars, who have won six of eight.
Trevor Daley put Detroit ahead in the opening minute, but Faksa redirected a shot past Jimmy Howard at 2:48. Andreas Athanasiou pulled the Red Wings into a 2-all tie midway through the second period and Spezza’s second goal 2:25 later put Dallas ahead 3-2.
Howard had 22 saves for the Red Wings, who had won five of their previous seven games. Damon Severson scored twice 1:26 apart in New Jersey’s three-goal second period, and the Devils ended a six-game skid with a road victory over New York. Kyle Palmieri and Taylor Hall also scored for New Jersey, which was 0-3-3 since beating Detroit at home on Dec. 27. Keith Kinkaid, getting the start after Cory Schneider was a late scratch due to illness, stopped 25 shots. Anders Lee scored and Jaroslav Halak made 38 saves for the Islanders. Rick Nash scored twice while New York notched five straight goals, and the Rangers rolled over Philadelphia at home. Jordan Weal put Philadelphia up 1-0 before Nash, J.T. Miller, Paul Carey and Michael Grabner combined to make it 5-1 by the end of the second period. Nash had the first and last goal for the Rangers.
Alexander Steen tied it with 57 seconds left and Vince Dunn scored 1:43 into overtime, lifting St. Louis over Toronto on the road. Connor Brown put Toronto ahead on a short-handed breakaway midway through the third period, but Steen scored with goalie Carter Hutton pulled for an extra attacker by backhanding Alex Pieterangelo’s rebound past Frederik Andersen.
Juuse Saros made 43 saves, Kevin Fiala scored eight minutes into the third period and Nashville beat Vegas at home. Joe Pavelski scored the lone shootout goal to give San Jose a road win against Arizona. Projected No. 1 NHL draft pick Rasmus Dahlin made Sweden’s Olympic roster and could be the youngest player in the tournament. Dahlin, 17, played at the recent world junior championship when Sweden earned the silver medal.