Red Wings 5, Stars 1
Captain Henrik Zetterberg scored a pair of goals and Jimmy Howard made a season-high 44 saves as Detroit continued its dominance in Dallas with its fifth straight road win over the Stars.
Joakim Andersson and Drew Miller scored 14 seconds apart late in the first period and Tomas Tatar added a highlight-reel tally as the Red Wings improved to 13-4-3 on the road. Howard, who was named to the United States Olympic team on Wednesday, turned aside 34 shots in the first two periods to earn his first win since Nov. 29.
Rich Peverley scored a short-handed goal for Dallas, which went 0-for-7 on the power play to lose its second straight despite outshooting Detroit 45-27. Dan Ellis gave up three goals on 13 shots before Kari Lehtonen (12 saves) replaced him to start the second period.
Andersson snapped a 1-1 tie with 1:55 left in the opening period, skating down the right side and using a defender as a screen to beat Ellis with a wrist shot from the right circle. Miller quickly made it a two-goal lead, stuffing home his own rebound attempt.
Tatar scored the only goal of the middle session on a brilliant individual effort, breaking out of his own end, sidestepping a defender at the blue line before moving in and tucking a backhander past Lehtonen. Zetterberg finished the scoring on a slap shot with 7:21 to play.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Red Wings C Pavel Datsyuk, the team's second-leading scorer, sat out with a lower-body injury. ... Stars D Aaron Rome exited the contest with an upper-body injury. ... Ellis denied Detroit LW Justin Abdelkader on a penalty shot with 5:58 left in the first period.