Stars 2, Canucks 1
VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- Right wing Erik Cole's early third-period goal gave the Dallas Stars a 2-1 victory over the Vancouver Canucks in NHL action Sunday night.
Cole put the Stars up 2-0 just 1:42 into the third period as he converted a pass from Cody Eakin on a two-on-one. With the goal, Cole ended his scoreless streak at 17 games.
He had not scored since Oct. 5 against Washington.
The Stars (11-7-2) posted their sixth win in seven games and extended their road winning streak to six games. The Canucks (11-8-3) suffered their fourth consecutive loss despite playing well upon return from a tough four-game road trip against Pacific Division opponents.
The Stars improved to a perfect 6-0-0 when leading after two periods.
Valeri Nichushkin also scored for Dallas.
Henrik Sedin replied for the Canucks.
The Canucks outshot the Stars by a whopping 43-23 count, but Dallas goaltender Kari Lehtonen delivered an almost-flawless effort and was aided by a disallowed Vancouver goal.
The game got off to an eventful start as Dallas captain Jamie Benn and Canucks defenseman Dan Hamhuis crashed into Luongo in the first minute. Moments later, Lehtonen stopped Henrik Sedin on a breakaway and held on to the puck, preventing Alex Burrows from stuffing in the rebound.
Both teams then proceeded to get more scoring chances and combined for 11 shots in the first six minutes.
Nichushkin gave Dallas a 1-0 lead 9:33 into the game as he stuffed in center Tyler Seguin's short backhand pass from behind the net. Seguin's assist extended his points streak to four games. He has collected six goals and two assists in four games over the past week.
Left wing Jamie Benn also drew an assist to post seven points in two games.
The Canucks had a goal disallowed at 6:48 of the second period as left wing Daniel Sedin was judged to have made incidental contact with Lehtonen before center Henrik Sedin put the puck in during a power play.
The Canuck twins' bad luck continued in the second period as Henrik Sedin took an interference penalty and then saw left wing Alex Burrows deflect his pass off the goal post with Lehtonen beaten. Vancouver outshot Dallas 20-5 in the middle frame, but could not score.
After Cole's goal, the Canucks responded with a power-play goal less than two minutes later as Henrik Sedin's luck finally changed for the better and he put in center Ryan Kesler's rebound during a power play. Kesler's assist came in his 600th career NHL game.
But Vancouver could not beat Lehtonen again.
NOTES: Stars LW Ray Whitney missed his third straight game with a lower-body injury. ... Vancouver RW Jannik Hansen returned after missing 10 games with an upper-body injury. ... Stars C Vernon Fiddler played in his 600th career NHL game. ... Canucks RW Zack Kassian played in his 100th NHL career game. ... The game was the first of three meetings between Vancouver and Dallas this season.
