Stars Douse the Flames

Jamie Benn leads Stars past Flames

Jamie Benn scored twice, Kari Lehtonen made 35 saves, and the Dallas Stars beat the Calgary Flames 4-1 on Saturday in a matchup of Western Conference playoff contenders.

Michael Ryder also scored for the Stars, who improved to 87 points and are in the middle of a six-team scramble along with the Flames (83 points) for one of the final two playoff spots. 

The Stars had moved into the Pacific Division lead with a 10-0-1 run, but they'd lost three of their previous four to tumble out of the top spot in the division and hurt their playoff hopes.   

Brenden Morrow tapped in an empty-netter at 18:32 of the third period to clinch the win for Dallas. 

Dallas wrapped up a 2-2 homestand and begins a four-game trip Monday night in Calgary, the next game for both teams. Calgary, 5-2-4 in its past 11 games, completed an 0-1-2 road trip.   

Notes: The Stars paid tribute to former D Karlis Skrastins prior to the game. Skrastins was a member of the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl team when the Latvian native died in a plane crash in Russia last September en route to a Kontinental League game in Minsk. His widow, Zane, and three daughters participated in the ceremony. The Stars have been wearing No. 37 patches on their uniforms this season in honor of Skrastins, who played two full seasons in Dallas.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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