Stars defeat Canucks to end skid

VANCOUVER --Tyler Seguin and Radek Faksa scored in the third period to help the Dallas Stars to a 4-2 win against the Canucks at Rogers Arena on Thursday.
Dallas was coming off a 7-1 loss against the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday and had lost its previous three games by a combined score of 17-4.

WATCH: All Stars vs. Canucks highlights
"Our compete level was a lot higher, our will throughout the game," Seguin said. "We were missing it the last few games, and it was obviously nice to respond and hopefully build a little foundation for the rest of the way."
Seguin converted the Stars' first power play at 9:07 of the third period with a one-timer from above the right circle that beat Miller high on the glove side. Faksa made it 4-2 at 15:31.

Ales Hemsky and Esa Lindell also scored and Kari Lehtonen made 26 saves for the Stars (28-32-10), who played without captain Jamie Benn in the third period because of an upper-body injury. Dallas coach Lindy Ruff said Benn will be re-evaluated Friday and wasn't sure if he would be able to play against the Calgary Flames.
Benn didn't play after a fight with 6-foot-7, 265-pound Canucks defenseman Nikita Tryamkin with 3:29 left in the second period.
"This might be something that happened in one of the earlier games, but we don't know for sure," Ruff said. "I don't know if he got hurt in the fight to tell you the truth."
Ben Hutton and Sven Baertschi scored and Ryan Miller made 32 saves for the Canucks (28-33-9), who lost all five games on their homestand (0-3-2).
"It's frustrating," Hutton said. "We want to win, especially here in our home rink in front of our fans. One mistake here, one mistake there and it's two points for the other team and not us."
Hemsky scored his first goal in his eighth game this season to give the Stars a 1-0 lead at 8:41 of the first period. Baertschi tied it 1-1 at 13:27 of the first period on a rebound after Lehtonen slid across to rob Tryamkin on a backdoor tap-in.
Lindell gave the Stars a 2-1 lead with 7.2 seconds left in the first period, but Hutton scored on a power play with 0.3 seconds left in the second to make it 2-2. It was the Canucks' second power-play goal in 34 chances over the past 14 games.

Goal of the game

Hutton followed up his shot from the high slot, got a loose puck out of a scramble above the crease, pulled the puck around a sprawling Lehtonen and backhanded it in as time ran down. "[Bo Horvat] and [Markus Granlund] are in there hacking, whacking away and it popped open and I just pulled it to the backhand and slid it in the net quick," Hutton said.

Save of the game

Horvat was alone at the top of the crease for a deflection with one minute left, but Lehtonen got his pads closed in time to make the save without a rebound.

Unsung performance of the game

Canucks forward Reid Boucher was in great position for a one-timer from inside the top of the left circle 6:30 into the third period, but Seguin lifted his stick as he was winding up to shoot.

Highlight of the game

Lehtonen was late coming off his post as the puck was centered to Granlund in the slot during a four-minute Canucks power play 3:35 into the game, but stayed with the play rather than making a panic push and Granlund deked back into him.

They said it

"It's no secret we were embarrassed by the last few games and the season in general, but to get a response was a good sign for the group and it gives us something to build off." -- Stars forward Jason Spezza
"We wanted to focus on battle and our effort tonight. It was there, but we've got to find a way to score some dirty goals and get some more power plays." -- Canucks forward Daniel Sedin
"I probably wasn't as sharp as I'd like to be early, made a couple poor decisions, but after that we were playing pretty well in the second. I was able to settle down a bit. It just got away from us towards the end." -- Canucks goalie Ryan Miller

Need to know

Stars forward Jiri Hudler was a healthy scratch for the fifth consecutive game. … Canucks defenseman Chris Tanev skated on his own Thursday but missed his third straight game after food poisoning sent him to the emergency room last Friday.

What's next

Stars:At the Calgary Flames on Friday (9 p.m. ET; SNW, FS-SW+, NHL.TV)
Canucks:At the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday (10 p.m. ET; CBC, SN, NHL.TV)