Stars 4, Red Wings 1
DETROIT -- Left winger Patrick Sharp and center Tyler Seguin had a goal and an assist each to lead the Dallas Stars to a 4-1 win against the Detroit Red Wings at Joe Louis Arena on Sunday afternoon.
Right winger Valeri Nichushkin and center Cody Eakin also scored for Dallas (12-3-0), which won its third straight. Goaltender Kari Lehtonen made 21 saves.
Right winger Gustav Nyquist scored for Detroit (7-6-1), which had its three-game winning streak snapped. Jimmy Howard made 20 saves before leaving with 12:51 left in the third period after taking a knee to the head by the Stars center Jason Spezza during a goal-mouth scramble. Howard was replaced by Petr Mrazek, who made two saves.
Sharp's power-play goal gave the Stars a 1-0 lead 7:22 into the game, 18 seconds after Detroit center Dylan Larkin went off for interference. Sharp beat Howard with a one-timer from the bottom of the right circle for his sixth goal and second in two games.
Nichushkin made it 2-0 with 4:41 left in the first period when he put in his own rebound. It was his first goal, in his 100th game.
Nyquist scored a power-play goal with 27 seconds left in the first period to make it 2-1. He redirected defenseman Niklas Kronwall's slap pass past Lehtonen. It was Nyquist's sixth goal.
Lehtonen stopped a tip attempt from in front off the rush by Detroit defenseman Brendan Smith with eight minutes left in the first period.
Each team had just three shots on goal in a scoreless second period.
Lehtonen made a glove save on defenseman Mike Green's wrist shot from the high slot off the rush with 3:40 left in the third period, and the score remained 2-1.
Seguin and Eakin added empty-net goals in the final 90 seconds with Detroit pushing to close the gap.
NOTES: Detroit D Mike Green returned after missing six games with a shoulder injury. ... Dallas LW Patrick Sharp was in the lineup after an undisclosed injury sustained Friday as he scored the winning goal against Carolina. He had been doubtful. ... The Red Wings were without C Pavel Datsyuk (ankle), RW Johan Franzen (concussion-like symptoms), C Brad Richards (back), D Kyle Quincey (ankle) and F Landon Ferraro (lower body). ... Datsyuk said he was about a week away from making his season debut. ... Stars GM Jim Nill was formerly Detroit's long-time assistant general manager. ... The Red Wings recalled C Andreas Athanasiou from their AHL affiliate in Grand Rapids and he made his NHL debut.