Stars 5, Lightning 2
Captain Jamie Benn scored two goals and set up another as visiting Dallas pulled away from Tampa Bay for its sixth win in eight games.
Tyler Seguin and Vernon Fiddler each recorded a goal and an assist while Ryan Garbutt set up a pair of tallies as the Stars moved one point ahead of Phoenix for the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference. Antoine Roussel also scored and Kari Lehtonen made 27 saves for Dallas, which improved to 3-1-0 on its five-game road trip.
Defenseman Andrej Sustr registered his first career goal and captain Steven Stamkos also scored for the Lightning, who have lost three of their last four. Ben Bishop turned aside 23 shots as Tampa Bay fell four points behind Montreal for second place in the Atlantic Division.
Benn was left alone on the left side of the net to knock home a long diagonal pass from defenseman Alex Goligoski 40 seconds into game and beat Bishop from the right faceoff circle at 5:37 to double the lead. Seguin accepted a pass in the slot and whipped a low shot past Bishop with 1:34 left in the first period for a 3-0 advantage.
Stamkos slipped a shot past Lehtonen from the right circle 1:57 into the second and Sustr snuck in from the left point to flip in a rebound 4:47 later to get Tampa Bay within one. But Fiddler scored on a backhander after a Tampa Bay turnover 1:26 into the third and Roussel added his 14th goal at 7:57 after Bishop muffed a rebound.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Tampa Bay D Radko Gudas received a match penalty for an illegal check to the head of Roussel 7:33 into the opening period. … Seguin has recorded 22 points in his last 15 games. … Dallas veteran LW Ray Whitney, who has 32 points this season, missed the game due to a lower-body injury. … The Stars play at Florida on Sunday.