Stars overcome Bernier's 50 saves, defeat Red Wings in OT

DETROIT -- Jamie Benn scored at 32 seconds of overtime on the 52nd shot by the Dallas Stars for a 2-1 win against the Detroit Red Wings at Little Caesars Arena on Saturday.

Jonathan Bernier made an NHL career-high 50 saves for the Red Wings, matching Cam Talbot of the Minnesota Wild (March 18) and Jordan Binnington of the St. Louis Blues (April 7) for the most by an NHL goalie this season. Bernier made 49 saves in a 4-3 shootout win at the Carolina Hurricanes on Nov. 10, 2018.
"I don't remember a game quite like that one," Bernier said. "They've got so many good shooters, especially on defense, and they were shooting from everywhere."
Dallas won three times in the four-game set, outshooting Detroit 158-88.
"We've lost a lot of games where we dominated, but we certainly deserved to win this one," Stars coach Rick Bowness said. "It's crazy that it went to overtime, but Bernier played a fantastic game."
Benn finished a 2-on-1 after a Red Wings turnover, keeping the puck and shooting over Bernier's shoulder.
"[Filip Hronek] took away the pass, so I figured I'd shoot," Benn said. "We stuck to our game plan and figured it would eventually pay off."
Anton Khudobin made 16 saves for Dallas (20-15-12), which won for the fifth time in six games. Dallas is in fifth place, two points behind the fourth-place Nashville Predators, in the eight-team Discover Central Division with two games in hand. The top four teams will qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
"You want to play in meaningful games, and every one of ours is going to be exactly that," Stars defenseman Mark Pysyk said. "We're fighting for our playoff lives and the competition level is going to be high. That's what makes it fun."

Detroit (17-25-8) is 12 points behind Nashville with six games remaining.
"It's tough to go into overtime and lose, especially on a play you didn't want to make," Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said. "That was a needless chance. We have to execute better in that situation."
The Stars outshot the Red Wings 16-2 in the first 16 minutes, but Dennis Cholowski gave the Red Wings a 1-0 lead at 16:17 of the first period with a wrist shot. It was Cholowski's 10th NHL goal and his first since an overtime winner against the Anaheim Ducks on Nov. 12, 2019.
"I think [Cholowski's] best games have been the last two," Blashill said. "He hit the post in the last game with a shot that had a real chance of going in, and he buried the one tonight."

Bernier made 21 saves in the first period.
The Stars had a 36-3 shot advantage before the Red Wings took their first shot of the second period at 11:55, and it was 41-6 at the end of the period.
Roope Hintz hit the post with the Stars shorthanded at 2:46 of the third period, but Pysyk tied the game 1-1 at 3:55, tapping a loose puck into the net on Dallas' 44th shot.
"It was good to see [Pysyk] get that one and get us going," Benn said. "There were 19 guys in the dressing room who were pretty happy for him."
NOTES: Dallas defenseman John Klingberg was a late scratch with a lower-body injury. Bowness said Klingberg is day to day. … Bernier is the seventh Red Wings goalie to make 50 saves in a game since the save became an official statistic in 1955-56, and the first since Jimmy Howard made 51 in a 2-1 win at the Los Angeles Kings on Jan. 7, 2010. Roger Crozier holds the Red Wings record with 56 in a 9-5 loss at the New York Rangers on April 5, 1970. … Stars forward Jason Robertson had an assist to extend his point streak to seven games (three goals, seven assists). … Hintz had his seven-game point streak end (three goals, 11 assists). … The Stars won the season series 6-2-0. The Red Wings were 1-4-3.