Nino Niederreiter scored the game-winner on a third-period breakaway to lift the visiting Carolina Hurricanes to a 5-3 win over the Dallas Stars on Thursday.
Jordan Staal added a single marker and an assist for the Hurricanes while Sebastian Aho, Brock McGinn and Warren Foegele each scored once. Vincent Trocheck and Brett Pesce both had two assists.
The Stars got goals from Mark Pysyk, Roope Hintz and Joe Pavelski, along with two-assist nights from Jason Robertson and Denis Gurianov.
James Reimer made 34 saves for the Hurricanes, while Anton Khudobin stopped 27 shots for the Stars, who are now 0-3 on an eight-game homestand.
Staal in the slot dropped a behind-the-back pass to Aho, who opened the scoring for the Hurricanes at 16:01 of the first.
The Stars scored three of five goals in a second-period scoring fest. Pysyk buried one past Reimer at 5:16 but Staal got the Hurricanes’ lead back, diving through the air for an Andrei Svechnikov pass to fool Khudobin.
Hintz scored what the Stars thought was their tying goal at 8:12 but Hurricanes head coach Rod Brind’Amour challenged the play, calling for an offside, and the referees agreed. Just seconds later, Gurianov gained possession in the neutral zone and flew up the ice with Hintz, who converted the lead pass at 8:25.
Three minutes later, the Stars had a one-minute 5-on-3, thanks to an interference penalty to Niederreiter and a too-many-men penalty to the Carolina bench. Pavelski buried a sharp-angle shot off a John Klingberg pass from the point.
The Canes tied the game at 3-3 just before the end of the period. At 19:33, McGinn faced an open net when Khudobin couldn’t get back into position after making a first save off Pesce. McGinn made no mistake to score for the fourth game in a row.
The Stars forced Reimer to come up big early in the third and, at 3:58, the Canes rewarded his efforts. Dougie Hamilton sent a long pass up the ice to Niederreiter, waiting at the edge of the Stars offensive zone. He streaked in alone and outfoxed Khudobin for the 4-3 lead.
Foegele added an empty-netter with 54 seconds left.
–Field Level Media