Stars 4, Canucks 2
VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- Left winger Patrick Sharp scored the tiebreaking goal with 5:59 remaining in the third period and the Dallas Stars continued their dominance over the Vancouver Canucks with a 4-2 victory on Thursday.
Right winger Valeri Nichushkin had a goal and a pretty assist for Dallas, who defeated the Canucks for the 10th consecutive time. It also was their fifth straight win in Vancouver.
Center Tyler Seguin also scored for the Stars (20-5-1), defenseman Alex Goligoski had two assists, and center Jason Spezza scored an empty-net goal
Defenseman Alex Edler and right winger Jannik Hansen scored for Vancouver, which lost its fourth consecutive game. Center Henrik Sedin had two assists and goaltender Ryan Miller stopped 30 shots for the Canucks, who are 3-8-4 in their last15 games.
Dallas goalie Kari Lehtonen, making his first start after missing three games with an upper-body injury suffered Nov. 24, made 14 saves.
Before Sharp's ninth goal a Dallas giveaway allowed the Canucks to tie the game 2-2 at 5:31 of the third.
Goligoski's attempted clearing pass was intercepted by Henrik Sedin at the blue line. He fed a pass to Hansen, who was behind Gogligoski, and he beat Lehtonen for his eighth goal of the season and 200th career point.
Goligoski made amends later setting up Sharp to put Dallas ahead. Sharp took a pass from Gogligoski near center ice, then used his speed to cut between Vancouver defensemen Dan Hamhuis and Yannick Weber, before beating Miller with a low shot.
The second period was just 33 seconds old when Nichushkin made a great play to put Dallas ahead 2-1.
Goligoski shot the puck into the Canuck zone and Nichushkin picked it off the boards behind the net before slipped a pass between his legs back to Seguin. Seguin jammed a shot past Miller on the short side for his 14th goal of the season.
Vancouver opened the scoring with the game less than a minute in when Edler scored.
The Canucks were applying some early pressure when center Henrik Sedin made a pass back to the blue line. Edler stepped into a shot that beat Lehtonen through traffic.
Nichushkin tied the game at 11:09 when he fought off a check from Vancouver defenseman Dan Hamhuis and tucked the puck behind Miller.
NOTES: Canucks C Brandon Sutter, sidelined since Nov. 10, had sports hernia surgery Tuesday and will be out up to six weeks. ... Vancouver LW Ronalds Kenins, recalled from Utica of the AHL, started on the second line with C Bo Horvat and RW Radim Vrbata. ... Canucks D Luca Sbisa (unknown), LW Jake Virtanen (hip), LW Chris Higgins (head) and D Ben Hutton (foot) all missed the game. ... Vancouver continues a four-game homestand Saturday against the Boston Bruins. ... Dallas D Jason Demers (lower body) didn't play. ... Stars LW Travis Moen and D Jyrki Jokipakka were healthy scratches. ... Dallas G Jack Campbell was reassigned to Texas of the AHL on Wednesday.