Canucks recover after blowing 2-goal lead, defeat Stars in OT

DALLAS -- Andrei Kuzmenko scored 48 seconds into overtime to give the Vancouver Canucks a 5-4 win against the Dallas Stars at American Airlines Center on Monday.

Kuzmenko scored off a centering pass from Anthony Beauvillier, who had just come onto the ice after replacing Elias Pettersson.
The goal stood after a lengthy video review initiated by the Situation Room determined Beauvillier had possession of the puck and was onside as he backed into the offensive zone prior to the goal.
"That's what I thought, that's why I left the bench," Stars coach Peter DeBoer said. "It was kind of a fingers crossed moment. You hope maybe you get the call, but I would expect that to count if we had scored the goal."

Beauvillier also scored twice, Kuzmenko also had two assists, and Quinn Hughes had three assists,for the Canucks (24-31-5).
Thatcher Demko made 34 saves in his return after missing 35 games because of a lower-body injury he sustained against the Florida Panthers on Dec. 1.
"Pretty crazy day, just leading up to it," Demko said. "A little bit of nerves, a little bit of anxiety, just making sure you're ready to go and coming back in. It feels great getting the job done. Feels good being back with the guys, that's the most important thing.
"I knew I was good to go coming into the game. I wanted to make sure I had that confidence in my body before I was fully back in the lineup and playing a game. There was definitely no hesitation tonight."
Jamie Benn had a goal and an assist, and Jake Oettinger made 16 saves for the Stars (31-16-13), who have lost six of their past seven games (1-3-3).
Roope Hintz cut it to 4-3 at 17:46 of the second period when Benn found him driving to the front of the net for a power-play goal.
Nils Lundkvist tied it 4-4 at 3:25 of the third period on a shot from the high slot.

Beauvillier gave Vancouver a 1-0 lead at 3:27 of the first period, finishing high glove side on a rebound.
Benn tied it 1-1 at 8:37 with a short-handed breakaway after Tyler Seguin forced a turnover at the defensive blue line.
Sheldon Dries scored 23 seconds later on the same power play to put Vancouver back in front 2-1.
Vasily Podkolzin pushed it to 3-1 at 15:03 when his shot from the slot banked in off of Stars defenseman
Jani Hakanpaa
.
"Just some miscues there," Hakanpaa said. "We've got to be way better for [Oettinger]. He's been unreal for us the whole year. We've just got to help him out better, protect that middle much more than we did today."
Evgenii Dadonov cut it to 3-2 at 4:33 of the second period, reaching back on a rush and tucking the puck past Demko's outstretched right pad. He was playing his first game for Dallas since being acquired in a trade with the Montreal Canadiens on Sunday.
"It's always nice, first goal, I think it's crucial," Dadonov said. "It seems like [Wyatt Johnston] knows where I'm going, and he made a nice pass. The chemistry, it's huge. When you know what a guy is going to do, that makes your game much easier."

Beauvillier scored his second of the game to make it 4-2 at 11:28.
"I just think we've got a lot of new guys here," Canucks coach Rick Tocchet said. "I thought in the first period we held our own. Obviously, that's a great hockey team over there, and they start pushing. Puck management wasn't good. Obviously, the four power plays we gave them in the second really hurt us, but we didn't bend, and obviously Demko was great."
NOTES: Vitali Kravtsov had one shot on goal in 8:53 of ice time in his debut with Vancouver after being acquired in a trade with the New York Rangers on Saturday. ... Dadonov (33 years, 352 days) became the oldest player to score in his Stars debut since Jaromir Jagr (40 years, 339 days) on Jan. 19, 2013.