In Dallas, the visiting Vancouver Canucks held leads of 3-1 and 4-2 on Monday night, but needed extra time to finally down the Stars, 5-4.
Andrei Kuzmenko scored 48 seconds into the extra session for the Vancouver win.
The Canucks took a 3-1 lead in the first period.
Thatcher Demko made 34 saves for Vancouver in his return to the crease after missing 35 games for an injury.
“Pretty crazy day, just leading up to it,” Demko said. “A little bit of nerves, a little bit of anxiety, just making sure you’re ready to go and coming back in. It feels great getting the job done. Feels good being back with the guys, that’s the most important thing.
“I knew I was good to go coming into the game. I wanted to make sure I had that confidence in my body before I was fully back in the lineup and playing a game. There was definitely no hesitation tonight.”
Vancouver took a 1-0 lead in the first period on Anthony Beauvillier’s first of the game.
Jamie Benn tied it 1-1, but the Canucks struck twice for the 3-1 lead headed to the second period.
The Canucks moved to 24-31-5.
“I just think we’ve got a lot of new guys here,” Canucks coach Rick Tocchet said. “I thought in the first period we held our own. Obviously, that’s a great hockey team over there, and they start pushing. Puck management wasn’t good. Obviously, the four power plays we gave them in the second really hurt us, but we didn’t bend, and obviously Demko was great.”
Sheldon Dries scored 23 seconds after the Benn goal for a 2-1 lead on a power play marker, and Vasily Podkolzin made it 3-1 to Vancouver.
“Just some miscues there,” Stars defenseman Jani Hakanpaa. said. “We’ve got to be way better for [Oettinger]. He’s been unreal for us the whole year. We’ve just got to help him out better, protect that middle much more than we did today.”
Dallas dropped to 31-16-13, they have gone 1-3-3 in their last seven.
Dallas rallied from the 4-2 deficit with a power play goal from Roope Hintz in the middle frame, and Nils Lundkvist‘s third period goal to tie the game, 4-4.
In the Second period, Evgenii Dadonov trimmed the Vancouver lead to 3-2 at 4:33.
“It’s always nice, first goal, I think it’s crucial,” Dadonov said. “It seems like [Wyatt Johnston] knows where I’m going, and he made a nice pass. The chemistry, it’s huge. When you know what a guy is going to do, that makes your game much easier.”
Beauvillier scored his double at 11:28 for a 7-2 advantage to the Canucks.
Jake Oettinger made 16 saves in the Stars loss.
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