Stars 5, Blackhawks 2
DALLAS -- Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin and Jason Spezza had a goal and an assist each and goaltender Kari Lehtonen stopped 21 of 23 shots for the Dallas Stars in a 5-2 win over the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday night at American Airlines Center.
Antoine Roussel and Ales Hemsky also scored for Dallas (41-20-8) with Seguin scoring the game-winner in the second period.
Teuvo Taravainen and Tomas Fleischmann scored for Chicago (41-22-8).
Fleischmann, who also had an assist, scored his 12th of the season on a wrist shot from the right circle with 58 seconds remaining. Following a short review to determine if Lehtonen had been interfered with, the goal was deemed valid.
The Stars finished 2-for-6 on the power play, victimizing a Chicago penalty kill, which is killing just 58.9 percent of opposing power plays over the past 11 games.
Darling, who stopped 10 of 11 shots he faced in relief of Crawford, headed to the bench with 8:10 remaining in regulation as Chicago tried to get back in the game with the extra attacker.
Darling returned to the crease with 6:11 remaining and Chicago still trailing 4-1.
Hemsky, who also had an assist, caught Darling heading to the bench again with 4:31 remaining and scored his 11th goal of the season.
Dallas struck first midway through the first period when Spezza scored his 26th goal of the season with the Stars on the power play. Spezza flicked a low wrist shot from near the Chicago blue line inside the left post at 11:08 of the first period.
The goal came when the Stars were 40 seconds into a power play resulting from Chicago's Andrew Shaw being whistled for tripping at 10:28.
Dallas doubled its lead 1:09 into the second period when Roussel scored his 12th goal of the season on a tap-in from in front of the Chicago net. Roussel received a pass from Ales Hemsky and promptly sent the puck high into the far side of the net to make it 2-0.
The Stars went up 3-0 when Tyler Seguin scored his 33rd goal of the season 5:06 into the second. Spezza fed Seguin, who sent a wrist shot through the five-hole of Blackhawks goaltender Corey Crawford. Spezza's assist was the 800th point of his NHL career.
Dallas captain Jamie Benn made it a 4-0 game when a pass from Seguin deflected in off his left skate for a power-play goal at 10:42 of the second period. The Stars were on the power play after Patrick Kane was called for cross checking at 9:46.
Benn's goal signaled the end of the night for Crawford, who stopped1 16 of 20 shots prior to departing for Scott Darling.
Seguin nearly made it 5-0 at 12:24 of the second, but his wrist shot from the right circle struck the right goalpost.
Chicago broke the shutout at 13:01 in the second when Teuvo Teravainen scored his 11th goal of the season off a quick slap shot from near the far post. Tomas Fleischmann spotted Teravainen open and delivered a perfect pass, which Teravainen quickly knocked into the open net to make it 4-1.
Dallas led 1-0 after one period and 4-1 after two.
NOTES: Blackhawks LW Brandon Mashinter, C Michael Rasmussen and D Michal Rozsival (lower body) were scratched. ... Stars D Jordie Benn (lower body), D Jason Demers (shoulder), D John Klingberg (lower body), LW Travis Moen and LW Patrick Sharp were scratched. ... Blackhawks RW Marian Hossa returned to the ice after a nine-game absence with a leg injury. Hossa, who last played on Feb. 13 against Anaheim, returned to Chicago's top line alongside LW Andrew Ladd and C Jonathan Toews, who did not participate in morning skate on Friday, getting what coach Joel Quenneville termed a maintenance day. ... Stars D Stephen Johns made his NHL debut. A second-round pick (60th overall) of Chicago in the 2010 NHL Draft, Johns was traded to Dallas last summer along with Sharp for D Trevor Daley and LW Ryan Garbutt, both of whom have already been traded again. ... Blackhawks G Corey Crawford started his third consecutive game.