Honka's first career goal lifts Stars past Coyotes in OT
DALLAS -- Julius Honka scored his first career goal with 1:15 remaining in overtime, and the Dallas Stars beat the Arizona Coyotes 3-2 on Tuesday at American Airlines Center.
Honka converted on a slap shot from the slot after getting a pass from Jason Spezza.
Antti Niemi made 24 saves in the win for Dallas (33-36-11).
Arizona had tied the game at 2-2 at 15:33 of the third period when Anthony Duclair finished off a pass from Max Domi from behind the net.
Brett Ritchie gave Dallas a 1-0 lead at 13:54 of the first period after a horrendous giveaway by Arizona (29-41-10).
Christian Dvorak had a clean face-off win back to Anthony DeAngelo, who inadvertently passed the puck right to Ritchie and the Stars forward turned it into his 16th goal of the season.
The Stars took advantage of another turnover and Jason Dickinson made it 2-0 at 17:12 of the period. Adam Cracknell forced the turnover and Dickinson turned a one-on-one chance against Mike Smith (28 saves) into his first goal of the season.
It was Dickinson's second career goal after he scored in his NHL debut last season.
On the very next shift Dvorak scored on a rebound and Arizona cut the lead to 2-1.
Dallas had a couple chances to add to its lead in an otherwise listless second period.
At 7:58 of the period Smith turned the puck over behind the net and Radek Faksa had a vacant net to shoot at. However, Peter Holland was in the right spot and blocked the shot with his right leg to deny a potential goal.
With less than 10 seconds remaining in the period Spezza hit the crossbar over Smith's right shoulder.
NOTES: Coyotes RW Radim Vrbata missed the game with a lower-body injury. Vrbata had appeared in the Coyotes first 79 games and has 53 points. ... Coyotes captain Shane Doan didn't take part in warmups and was scratched with a lower-body injury ... The Coyotes played their first game without defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson, who was granted leave from the team after his mother passed away after a lengthy battle with cancer ... Stars coach Lindy Ruff said Ales Hemsky and Jiri Hudler will each miss the remainder of the season due to injury. ... D Jamie Oleksiak returned to the Dallas lineup after missing back-to-back games with a lower-body injury. ... Dallas G Annti Niemi made just his second start in the past 11 games.