Dallas

Hemsky Scores in Overtime, Stars Win Against Rangers

Dallas Stars overcame a late tying goal by New York's Chris Kreider

Ales Hemsky scored 1:02 into overtime as the Dallas Stars overcame a late tying goal by Chris Kreider to snap a three-game skid with a 3-2 win over the New York Rangers on Sunday night.

Hemsky snapped the puck past fill-in goaltender Cam Talbot for his ninth goal of the season to lift the Stars after being outshot by the Rangers 20-2 in the third period.

Kreider tied it with his 12th of the season, on the power play at 18:40 of the third.

Jason Spezza and Erik Cole each scored second-period goals for Dallas. Spezza opened the scoring on a 5-on-3 power-play for the Stars at 2:53 of the second period with his 10th goal of the season. Tyler Seguin and John Klingberg assisted.

Carl Hagelin tied it for New York at 15:27 of the second, putting a pass from Kevin Hayes past Dallas netminder Kari Lehtonen, who made 34 saves.

The goal was the 11th for Hagelin. Defenseman Kevin Klein also assisted.

Cole put the Stars (24-21-8) ahead at 18:05 of the second with his 14th goal when he finished off a passing play with Hemsky with shot that slipped past Talbot, who was making his third straight start in place of the injured Henrik Lundqvist.

Both teams were coming off losses on Saturday and had to travel for the peculiar 5 p.m. starting time. The Rangers (30-16-5) lost 3-2 at Nashville while the Stars were defeated in Buffalo.

Eight of the last 10 games between the Rangers and Stars, including each of the last six, have been decided by one goal. The Stars also won the previous meeting between the teams, 3-2 on Dallas on Dec. 29.

Still, the Rangers have won 12 of their last 16 home games and 20 of their last 26 games overall, since Dec. 8 when they beat Pittsburgh in overtime.

Before the game, Lundqvist expressed hope he would return from a throat area injury before the playoffs.

Lundqvist was injured when he was struck with a shot last Saturday against Carolina. He termed it sprained blood vessel that will be re-evaluated in two to three weeks.

"If I keep playing now, there's a big risk of having a stroke," the 32-year-old goaltender said. "You don't play around with this. It's not like a sore shoulder or something. You have to listen to the doctors."

Talbot figures to play a fourth-straight game in the NHL when the Rangers start a four-game road trip in Toronto on Tuesday.

They also have road games against Colorado, Arizona and the Islanders before returning home to face Vancouver on Feb. 19.

Backing up Talbot is 20-year-old Mackenzie Skapski, who has yet to play an NHL game.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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