Stars fall to Canucks, lose lead in Central Division

DALLAS -- The Dallas Stars lost ground in the Central Division race with a 3-1 loss to the Vancouver Canucks at American Airlines Center on Saturday.

Dallas fell one point behind the Minnesota Wild for first place. Minnesota defeated the Chicago Blackhawks 3-1 earlier Saturday.
"You're always paying attention (to the standings this time of year)," Stars defenseman Ryan Suter said. "As much as you want to focus on yourself and playing the right way, doing the right things, it's on your mind. We know we took a step back tonight and got to be better next game."

Dakota Joshua, Brock Boeser, and Jack Rathbone scored for the Canucks (33-34-5), who have won nine of their past 11 games. Thatcher Demko made 25 saves.
"He's just a solid goalie," Vancouver coach Rick Tocchet said. "Sometimes you have some team's number for whatever reason, I don't know why. They're going to the playoffs, they're a great team. It's a good confidence builder for the guys when you can beat guys like that."
Suter scored, and Matt Murray made 21 saves for the Stars (39-20-14), who have lost four of six.
"Disappointing [outcome] for sure," Dallas coach Peter DeBoer said. "I didn't think a lot of guys had much tonight. We still found a way to score the first goal and then handed them momentum with the short-handed goal. We know they're dangerous short-handed, and we talked about it, and we still gave one up.
"We didn't execute on 5-on-5 or on the power play. They were the hungrier team. They blocked 21 shots (to the Stars' 7). That's inexcusable this time of year for us."

Suter gave Dallas a 1-0 lead at 11:28 of the first period on a one-timer from the point off a feed from behind the net by Tyler Seguin.
Joshua tied it 1-1 at 18:24 when he finished off a short-handed 2-on-1 with Nils Aman.
"We're just kind of coming closer together here as it's gone down the stretch," Joshua said. "Obviously, it's hard, the position that we're in. But we're still trying to take positives out of every game and keep building that momentum towards next year, and that's been our focus. Been doing a good job of that lately."

Boeser put Vancouver ahead 2-1 at 3:57 of the second period on a give-and-go with J.T. Miller.
"I thought we kind of struggled today, but also, I felt like they played really well," Stars defenseman Esa Lindell said. "They were so tight on us, and all over our execution wasn't there. Feels like they were coming at us all the time, and we didn't really have the momentum today."
Rathbone pushed it to 3-1 at 5:30 on a one-timer from the high slot. Elias Pettersson had a secondary assist on the goal to extend his NHL career-high point streak to 11 games (five goals, 10 assists).
"We've been working on [defensive] zone structure a lot lately and just winning some battles in our net front," Demko said. "I think they're the first team in the League in tips with traffic and that stuff. Obviously, they're going to get some looks in that regard.
"After that first shot was on net, I thought our [defense] did a great job of eliminating second chances and boxing those guys. I was really proud of the guys."
NOTES: Miller has 18 points (nine goals, nine assists) in his past 11 games. ... Canucks forward Vasily Podkolzin left the game after blocking a shot with 11:07 remaining in the third period. ... Stars defenseman Miro Heiskanen's 12-game point streak ended (four goals, 16 assists).