Jamie Benn’s PP goal breaks tie, Stars beat Jets 6-3

Jamie Benn scored the tiebreaking goal on a third-period power play and the Dallas Stars went on to beat the Winnipeg Jets 6-3 on Thursday night.

“Just a lot of good work by the other four guys”. “I pretty much stand in front and tap them in”.

Dallas added late empty-net goals from left winger Antoine Roussel and center Vernon Fiddler. Seguin leads the league in assists (14) and shares the league lead with 23 points (two ahead of Benn), while Benn is tied for the goal-scoring lead with 10 goals (one in front of Seguin).

Stars goaltender Kari Lehtonen stopped 35 of 38 shots to earn his fourth consecutive win. Pavelec had 28 saves.

The Stars definitely felt the pressure of a divisional game, as Winnipeg scored at the 9:17 mark of the third period to tie the game 3-3.

The Jets were victimized by breakaways in their loss to the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday and on Thursday against Dallas it was Alex Hemsky who broke in all alone and he slid the puck past Pavelec. They appeared headed for a repeat performance until Benn scored.

But Benn’s power play goal was enough to lock it up for first-place Dallas. They are also 1-1-0 in Central Division play and it looks as though they are trying to prove that the first game against Colorado was a fluke. We have an opportunity to go ahead and we can’t make it and they score on that one (of theirs). “It turns on the power plays”.

The Stars went on their own power play and Benn scored his 11th goal of the season. The Stars three losses to the Jets were all games that they could have and even should have won in retrospect.

“I thought the way we were playing in the third period, I was very comfortable with the lead”, Ruff said. “(Lehtonen) hung in on the penalty kill. “But the whole game he made pretty good saves at key times”.

“He made that one leg save off a redirection that was more of the spectacular-type save”, Stars coach Lindy Ruff said.

Lehtonen recovered from a shaky start. Stars defenseman Jason Demers had his stick slashed out of his hand with no penalty called, and the crowd grew irate when the Jets scored a few seconds later.

Wheeler’s shot from low in the left faceoff circle beat Lehtonen inside the near goal post. The puck landed in front of Sceviour, who scored through Pavelec’s five-hole for the equalizer.

Trouba’s goal would not be the last of the action packed first. The Stars would score in the second half of the frame to take a 2-2 tie into the break. “I know (Pavelec) from Czech, so I knew right away I was shooting 5-hole”. Former NFL receiver and Dallas native Tim Brown, a 2015 inductee into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, did the ceremonial puck drop prior to the game….

Wheeler opened the scoring for the visitors with his eighth goal of the season at 4:13 of the first. Dallas is 1-1 vs. Central Division opponents after struggling at 8-14-7 against them last season…. Klingberg’s 17 points (3 goals, 14 assists) are the most for any National Hockey League defenceman. His third from Benn and Fiddler gave the Stars the lead back.