5 things to know: Wild third period fuels Stars' fifth straight win

The Dallas Stars made it five wins in a row, their longest winning streak of the season, defeating the Arizona Coyotes, 5-4, at American Airlines Center on Monday night.
The Stars scored three goals in 71 seconds to take a 4-2 lead in the third period, gave up two quick goals that allowed Arizona to tie, and then Tyler Seguin scored the game-winner with 7:32 remaining. Roope Hintz, John Klingberg, Radek Faksa, and Mattias Janmark also scored for the Stars. Ben Bishop stopped 38 shots.
Here are five things from Monday's game.

1. It was a roller coaster ride

Monday's game was definitely a roller coaster ride for the Stars, several ups and downs. But in the end, it was another win, and that's what counts.
"It was a weird game," said Stars defenseman John Klingberg. "But we found a way to win."
"We've found a way to win games in all different forms during the streak," said Stars center Jason Spezza. "It was an up-and-down-the-lineup-contribution game and one we can feel good about."
The start wasn't great, and the Stars fell behind 1-0 when Coyotes defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson scored on the rush with the two sides playing four-on-four 8:39 into the game.
The Stars drew even early in the second on a power-play goal by Hintz, who redirected a Spezza pass into the net. But the Coyotes were back on top midway through the second on a Kevin Connauton goal from the left point.
The Stars then blitzed the Coyotes with three goals in 71 seconds in the third, power-play tallies by Klingberg and Faksa and then an even-strength tally by Janmark and the Stars were up 4-2 at the 3:39 mark. A little more than four minutes later it's a tie game after the Coyotes get two goals in 61 seconds from Vinny Hinostroza and Alex Galchenyuk.
But the Stars bounced back with a goal by the line of Jamie Benn, Seguin, and Alexander Radulov. Radulov tied up a Coyote defender behind the Arizona net, Benn scooped up the puck and set up Seguin who scored the game-winner with 7:32 remaining.
After grinding out some close low-scoring games, the Stars needed to find a way to win a game in which they had to come back a couple of times and then bounce back after blowing a two-goal lead in the third.
"It's nice that we are finding ways to win different types of games," said Stars coach Jim Montgomery. "It was nice to see us generate and stay with it. Our power play and penalty kill came through. A lot of positives to build on.
"It's funny, we scored a lot of goals and our D zone wasn't as sharp as it's been lately. But I just liked our mental poise."

2. Special teams shine

Special teams were huge for the Stars.
The power play scored three times in the game. Two of the goals -- Hintz's redirection and a deflection off Faksa -- came from the second unit, which also included Spezza, Miro Heiskanen, and Denis Gurianov. Klingberg scored the goal for the first unit. Overall, the power play ended up 3-for-4 on the night. The Stars scored three times on the power play for the second time this season (Oct. 6 vs. WPG was the other) and did it against Arizona's top-ranked penalty kill.
"You know what? The second unit got us going," Montgomery said. "The second unit was great. That play from Spezza to Hintz gave us momentum, and they were winning puck battles, and they were attacking the zone with speed. Then we got the 4-on-3 goal (from Klingberg) and then the second unit got another five-on-four goal. I think the second unit's energy and execution got the first unit going."
The penalty kill was excellent as well, killing off all five Arizona power plays including a major penalty to Brett Ritchie for boarding late in the second. That penalty carried over from late in the second until early in the third, but lasted only 3:12 because Janmark drew a penalty on Ekman-Larsson to shorten Arizona's man-advantage.
"No doubt, the energy from the five-minute (kill) propelled us," Montgomery said. "We seemed to come after them in waves after that, and at the tail end of that we got the power plays."
Those power plays would lead to the Stars' second and third goals of the night and would be the first two tallies in that three goals in 71 seconds that would give them a 4-2 lead.

3. Stars thriving in third periods

Third periods were an issue for the Stars earlier this season but not so much during this five-game winning streak, especially the last three games. The Stars have outscored their opponents 8-2 in third periods over the last three games.
"We're believing in the system and getting confidence," said Benn. "We're going in third periods finding ways to win hockey games in all different kinds of ways. It gives our group a lot of confidence and a good feeling for sure."
Against Minnesota on Friday, they were tied 1-1 after two periods and outscored the Wild 2-0 on their way to a 3-1 win. It was the same story Saturday in Nashville. The game was tied 1-1 after two periods, and the Stars scored twice in the third to take a 3-1 win.
Monday night, the Stars trailed 2-1 heading into the third period and outscored the Coyotes 4-2 over the final 20 minutes on their way to a 5-4 victory. It was just the second time this season the Stars have won a game when trailing after two periods (2-13-0). Their other win came Dec. 1 at Vancouver when they scored twice in the third to defeat the Canucks, 2-1.
Montgomery said he can see a change in how the team plays in the third period these days.
"It's incredible, the difference," Montgomery said. "You just sense it in the room and on the bench. There's a belief and a trust in each other right now that we can. That attitude of 'we can' is beginning to permeate through everybody."

4. Ritchie gets major, game misconduct for hit on Goligoski

Stars forward Brett Ritchie was assessed a five-minute major for boarding and a game misconduct for a hit on Coyotes defenseman Alex Goligoski late in the second period. Ritchie hit Goligoski just below the goal line in the Arizona zone, and the Coyotes defenseman went hard into the end boards. Goligoski was down on the ice for a while before heading off the ice and not returning due to an upper-body injury.
"The way [the referee] explained it, it was a good call," Montgomery said. "It's one of those dangerous plays in hockey. Unfortunately, his stick got caught up in his feet as he was turning, and he went hard into the boards. It's something to protect players and player safety has always got to come first."
The Coyotes also lost defenseman Kevin Connauton to injury in the third period for a while as well, but he returned later in the game.

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5. Domination over 'Yotes continues

The Stars have won nine straight games against Arizona and 12 straight games against the Coyotes at American Airlines Center. ... The Stars scored three goals in a span of 71 seconds, with nine separate players recording a point. This marks the first time in franchise history that nine different players each registered at least one point in a span of 71 seconds or fewer. ... Seguin's goal was his team-leading 22nd of the season. ... The Coyotes outshot the Stars 42-29 and 69-57 advantage in shot attempts. ... According to naturalstattrick.com, Arizona had a 19-8 advantage in high-danger chances. ... The Stars were 3-for-4 on the power play and 5-for-5 on the penalty kill. ... Dallas won 46 of 74 faceoffs (62 percent). Faksa won 14 of 19 faceoffs (74 percent). Spezza won 10 of 11 (91 percent). ... Esa Lindell led the Stars with 23:47 of ice time. Seguin was next with 22:30.
Here is the lineup the Stars used to start tonight's game along with scratches and injuries.
Jamie Benn - Radek Faksa - Blake Comeau
Mattias Janmark - Tyler Seguin - Alexander Radulov
Andrew Cogliano - Jason Dickinson - Jason Spezza
Denis Gurianov - Roope Hintz - Brett Ritchie
Esa Lindell - John Klingberg
Miro Heiskanen - Roman Polak
Jamie Oleksiak - Taylor Fedun
Ben Bishop
Anton Khudobin
Scratched:Connor Carrick, Julius Honka, Valeri Nichushkin
Injured:Tyler Pitlick (upper body), Martin Hanzal (back), Stephen Johns (post-traumatic headaches), Marc Methot (knee surgery)
This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.
Mark Stepneski has covered the Stars for DallasStars.com since 2012. Follow him on Twitter @StarsInsideEdge.