The Vancouver Canucks still can't find a way to beat the Dallas Stars.
For the second time this season, Vancouver came away with a point against Dallas, this time in a 3-2 shootout loss on Friday at American Airlines Center. But it felt like one that got away from the Canucks, who have now lost nine straight to the Stars. Canucks goaltender Ryan Miller made 23 saves. Vancouver also lost 4-3 in overtime in Dallas on Oct. 29 after blowing a 3-1 lead early in the third period. Tyler Seguin scored the only goal in the shootout, starting the tiebreaker with a wrist shot from the slot through Miller's five-hole. Antti Niemi stopped attempts byAlexandre Burrows, Radim Vrbata and Chris Higgins.
Dallas, which finished its three-game homestand 2-1-0, got goals fromJamie Benn andJason Spezza. Patrick Sharp had two assists and Niemi made 34 saves.
Daniel Sedin and Henrik Sedin scored for the Canucks. Henrik Sedin's power-play goal with 4:10 remaining in the third period tied the game 2-2. Special teams were a big factor; Dallas' power play was 2-for-5 and Henrik Sedin's tying goal came with the Canucks up a man. Vancouver also killed off a penalty in overtime.
Dallas took a 1-0 lead when Seguin's power-play wrist shot deflected off Benn's left leg and went past Miller at 15:27 of the first period. It was Benn's League-leading 17th goal and extended his point streak to seven games. Earlier in the period, the Stars killed off a four-minute Vancouver power play after Benn caught Chris Tanev in the side of the head with a high stick and was assessed a double minor. Vancouver capitalized on a turnover by John Klingberg at 3:10 into the second to tie the game. Jannik Hansen intercepted Klingberg's backhand pass in the middle of the Stars zone and fed an onrushing Daniel Sedin, who tied the game with his 11th goal of the season.
Spezza gave Dallas a 2-1 lead at 11:52 of the second when he picked the top right corner with a slap shot from the right circle, beating Miller to his short side with the Stars on the power play. It was his ninth goal of the season. Niemi preserved the lead at 16:25 when he robbed Alexander Edler with a spectacular windmill glove on a slap shot from the high slot.
Each goaltender came up big in overtime. Niemi made a diving save on Canucks defenseman Dam Hamhuis at 2:25 as he attempted to end the game with a shot from near the Dallas blue line after he intercepted the goaltender's attempted pass. Miller then denied Benn twice at the near post during a Dallas power play after Vancouver was called for too many men.
Dallas, now 10-2-0 at home, remains the only team in the NHL that hasn't lost consecutive games this season.
Stars Quotes
Lindy Ruff: "I thought [Niemi] was excellent. Did a great job, and made some big saves. Obviously, he was a big part of that win for us."
"I thought our special teams were real good. I thought our penalty-killing did a great job. It was a different night. You're going to have games like this where you end up a lot of special teams. It takes a lot of players out of the game."
"For the most part, I was [happy]. The game was so disjointed, it's really hard to break that one down. I thought both goaltenders made some big saves at opportune times. Jason Spezza could have put the game away two or three different times for us, but Miller made some great saves. And then I thought Antti kept them out there and gave us a chance to put it away."
Jamie Benn: "It wasn't pretty tonight, but at times we were playing well. The biggest thing is we found a way to win and get two points."
Jason Spezza: "Just a tight little spot, and saw him [Miller] leaning a little bit. That's a shot I've used before."
Antti Niemi: "I didn't panic [his sprawling OT save]. [I was] just hoping for the best."
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