NHL - Dallas Stars @ Nashville Predators 3-5 - Tuesday, Mar 01, 2016

Shea Weber had a goal and two assists in his return to the lineup to help the Nashville Predators to a 5-3 win against the Dallas Stars at Bridgestone Arena.
Weber missed the three previous games with a lower-body injury. Pekka Rinne made 35 saves for Nashville, which has won five games in a row and has at least a point in 10 straight (7-0-3).
Weber scored on the power play to make it 3-1 at 9:17 of the second period. He one-timed a pass from defenseman Roman Josi past Stars goaltender Antti Niemi for his 16th goal.
Dallas has lost four in a row (0-3-1) and is 1-5-2 in its past eight games. Craig Smith gave the Predators a 1-0 lead at 12:38 of the first period on a wrist shot from the slot. Mike Ribeiro passed from behind the net to Smith, who was able to shoot it through traffic past Niemi for his 15th goal. Antoine Roussel scored 10 seconds later to tie it 1-1. Roussel got around Predators defenseman Anthony Bitetto and slid the puck past Rinne for his 10th goal.
Calle Jarnkrok gave the Predators a 2-1 lead at 1:35 of the second period on a redirection from in front of the Stars net. James Neal lofted a pass toward the net that Jarnkrok tipped past Niemi for his 13th goal. Mattias Ekholm gave the Predators a 4-1 lead 31 seconds after Weber's power-play goal when he scored on a backhand shot from the right faceoff circle. It was his seventh goal.
Kari Lehtonen replaced Niemi following Ekholm's goal. Lehtonen made 15 saves on 16 shots after relieving Niemi, who allowed four goals on 18 shots.
After Jason Spezza scored on a 5-on-3 power play at 16:38 of the second to make it 4-2, Neal scored to make it 5-2 at 5:37 of the third period. Neal one-timed a pass from Weber past Lehtonen from the top of the right faceoff circle for his 22nd goal. The Stars' Vernon Fiddler scored with 9:30 remaining to make it 5-3. Patrick Sharp left the game late in the second period with an undisclosed injury and is listed as day-to-day. Kris Russell made his Stars debut after being traded from the Calgary Flames. He was paired with Jordie Benn.

Stars Quotes

Lindy Ruff: "We know [the goaltending] has got to be better. We're trying hard defensively to clean things up. I thought we played a great first period. Gave up a big rush chance at the start of the second, which I thought got them a little bit fired up."