Stars keep pace on Benn’s 3-point night
— Jamie Benn had a goal and two assists to lead the Dallas Stars to a 4-1 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday night.
Kari Lehtonen made 29 saves for the Stars, who also got goals from Tyler Seguin, Brenden Dillon and Cody Eakin. The victory put Dallas (28-21-10) in eighth place, the final playoff spot, in the Western Conference.
Dallas scored two of its goals shorthanded in regaining the momentum it had with a 6-1-2 record in the nine games before its 19-day Olympic break.
Seguin scored 3:18 into the game, and Brenden Dillon gave Dallas a 2-0 lead with a short-handed goal at 6:13 of the first. Benn, who played for Canada’s gold medal-winning team, assisted on both.
Benn scored an unassisted, short-handed goal at 18:35 of the second. He took the puck away in Dallas’ end and skated the length of the ice to beat Hurricanes goalie Anton Khudobin.
Eric Staal scored for Carolina at 2:42 of the third period. Eakin had an empty-net goal in the final minute.
Seguin gave the Stars an early lead.
He took a backhand pass from Valeri Nichushkin in the left faceoff circle and wristed a shot past Khudobin.
The Stars had an 11-8 advantage in shots in the middle frame.
Carolina took the first eight shots of the third period, including Staal’s 16th goal.
From the right side, he slid the puck between Lehtonen’s legs and across the goal-line.
The Stars have 66 points, one more than the ninth-place Vancouver Canucks. Carolina has lost five of its last seven games.