Stars defeat Panthers in shootout after 16-day break

DALLAS --Denis Gurianov had a goal and two assists for the Dallas Stars in a 6-5 shootout win against the Florida Panthers at American Airlines Center on Thursday.

"It wasn't our prettiest, but we got the result we wanted," Dallas forward Jamie Benn said. "We're going to try to keep building. First game in 17 days, it's never easy, but we got it done."
Benn had a goal and an assist, John Klingberg had two assists, and Braden Holtby made 37 saves for Dallas (16-12-2), which played its first game since a 7-4 win against the Minnesota Wild on Dec. 20, 2021.
"That [16-day] break, we didn't have it last year," Dallas coach Rick Bowness said. "That's a tough thing, it really is. We just got to keep trying to find solutions. We found a way to win that game tonight. … Listen, we're absolutely thrilled we got the two points against an elite hockey club after the break.
"Was it going to be a Picasso tonight? No, but we're thrilled with the two points."

Aleksander Barkov scored twice, Patric Hornqvist and Jonathan Huberdeau each had a goal and an assist, and Aaron Ekblad had three assists for Florida (22-7-5), which is 4-0-1 in its past five games. Sergei Bobrovsky made 31 saves.
Barkov scored a power-play goal with a slap shot from the high slot to give the Panthers a 1-0 lead at 8:28 of the first period. He has scored at least one point in 17 of his 21 games this season (14 goals, 10 assists).
"Obviously, we want to score goals, but we don't want to let them score as many as they did," Barkov said. "[We've] got to be a little better defensively than we were in this game. … They're a good team, so got to give them a little credit on that. They put a lot of pucks to the net, and they have great skill up front."

Michael Raffl tied it 1-1 at 12:53, redirecting Klingberg's point shot in the slot past Bobrovsky.
Barkov restored the Panthers' lead 18 seconds into the second period with a shorthanded goal to make it 2-1. It was the first shorthanded goal allowed by the Stars this season.
Gurianov tied it 2-2 at 1:46, sweeping the puck into the net after Benn's shot squeaked through Bobrovsky on the power play.
"We answered when we needed to today," Klingberg said. "We know that momentum is going to change during the game. I think we handled that real good today."

Hornqvist made it 3-2 at 4:07 when he tipped in Gustav Forsling's shot.
Dallas then scored twice in 28 seconds to take its first lead of the game. Jason Robertson tied it 3-3 at 13:10 with a point shot through traffic, and Tyler Seguin made it 4-3 at 13:38 with a diving backhand shot.
MacKenzie Weegar tied it 4-4 at 17:17, beating Holtby short side on shot from the right circle.
The Stars retook the lead 5-4 at 6:26 of the third period. Gurianov forced a turnover after Bobrovsky left the crease to play the puck, and as he circled around the net, he passed to Benn for a shot from the slot before the Panthers goalie could get back into position.
Jonathan Huberdeau scored with 28 seconds left and Bobrovsky pulled for the extra skater to tie it 5-5.
"I thought we played a 50-50 hockey game on the road," Florida coach Andrew Brunette said. "I thought we had stretches where we played well and stretches where we didn't. Kind of wasn't our A-game, but we found a way."
NOTES: Panthers forward Joe Thornton became the sixth player in NHL history to play in 1,700 games, joining Patrick Marleau (1,779), Gordie Howe (1,767), Mark Messier (1,756), Jaromir Jagr (1,733) and Ron Francis (1,731). … Robertson extended his home point streak to nine games (12 points; five goals, seven assists). … Huberdeau has 10 points in his past four games (one goal, nine assists). … Stars forward Joe Pavelski had an assist and has seven points in his past four games (three goals, four assists).