Tyler Seguin had three goals and two assists to lead the Dallas Stars to a 6-1 victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday night.
Jamie Benn, Alex Goligoski and Ryan Garbutt also scored for Dallas, which built a 5-0 lead. Kari Lehtonen made 31 saves, and Benn and Rich Peverley each had two assists.
Seguin scored twice in the first period, and completed his hat trick at 12:53 of the third. His third three-goal game this season tied Bill Guerin and Mike Modano for the Stars record. Seguin also has two of the NHL's six five-point games this season.
Vancouver's Zac Dalpe scored at 18:15 of the second period.
Dallas solidified its hold on the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference, improving to 9-3-2 in their last 14 goals.
The fading Canucks, 11th in the West, dropped to 1-10-1 in their last 12 and fell four points behind Dallas.
Canucks goalie Eddie Lack stopped only 12 of 17 shots before being replaced by Jacob Markstrom for the third period. Markstrom, acquired earlier this week in the trade that sent Roberto Luongo to Florida, had four saves.
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Benn put in a rebound 2:57 into the game after Lack had stopped Seguin's backhand.
Seguin scored the second goal on a power play. He took a pass from Alex Chiasson behind the Canucks' defense and fired into the upper right corner from in front of the net.
Even at that point, the lead appeared safe against a team that had scored only eight goals in its previous eight games.
Seguin made it 3-0 at 11:59, taking a pass off the boards from Peverley and turning and one-timing a shot between Lack and the right goal post.
The shots on goal, eight for each team, did not reflect Dallas' domination of the first period.
The Stars began the second on a 5-minute power play. Vancouver's Zack Kassian received a major penalty for boarding and a game misconduct for a hit on Brenden Dillon in front of the Canucks' bench with 1:30 left in the first period.
With that man advantage, Dallas took a 4-0 lead at 2:20 of the second. Ray Whitney passed from behind the goal line to defenseman Goligoski low in the right faceoff circle. He shot into the near side of the net. Seguin assisted on the goal.
At 12:08, Goligoski passed across to Garbutt on the left side, and his goal increased the lead to 5-0.
Dalpe scored a power-play goal late in the period to get the Canucks on the board with a shot that hit Lehtonen as he tried to recover his position.
The teams again were tied in shots, with nine each. Vancouver outshot Dallas 16-5 in the third period.
NOTES: The Stars had been outscored 6-0 in the first period of their previous three games. ... Dillon left the ice after Kassian's hit, but returned for the second period. ... Goligoski has a goal in each of the last three games after scoring only twice in his first 59 games this season. ... Dallas' defensemen have totaled six goals in those three games. ... Seguin had two goals and five assists in this season's three games against Vancouver, all Stars victories. ... Benn has two goals and six assists in his last six games overall. ... Lack, starting for the Canucks for the fifth consecutive game, had allowed 1.25 goals per game for the first four.
