Stars 4, Panthers 3 (SO): Colton Sceviour scored the lone goal of the shootout in the third round as visiting Dallas spoiled the season debut of Florida goaltender Dan Ellis.

Defenseman Alex Goligoski netted the tying goal in the third period while Curtis McKenzie and Shawn Horcoff - who also notched an assist - added first-period tallies as the Stars climbed within eight points of Winnipeg for the second wild card in the Western Conference. Jhonas Enroth stopped all 10 shots he faced in relief of Kari Lehtonen (three goals on 14 shots) and improved to 6-0 in shootouts this season.

Blue-liner Dmitry Kulikov, suspended four games for wiping out Dallas' Tyler Seguin last month, recorded a goal and an assist while Brandon Pirri and Jonathan Huberdeau also scored for the Panthers, who remained two points behind Boston for the second wild card in the East. Ellis, called up from the minors after Florida's top two netminders were injured last game, made 29 saves exactly one year after he was traded from the Stars to the Panthers.

Trailing 2-0, Florida got on the board with three minutes left in the first as Pirri capitalized on a line change and beat Lehtonen under his pads. Kulikov, who tangled with McKenzie earlier, scored on a breakaway after coming out of the penalty box at 8:15 of the second before Huberdeau was sprung down the left side and ended Lehtonen's night with a wrister from the left faceoff dot to snap an 18-game goalless drought.

Goligoski drew the Stars even with 7:39 left in the third with a wrist shot through a screen from above the left circle. A turnover by Huberdeau led to the opening goal as McKenzie redirected a shot by defenseman Jason Demers 2 1/2 minutes into the contest before Horcoff doubled the lead 10 minutes later, when his attempted pass deflected off the stick of Florida blue-liner Brian Campbell and past Ellis.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Florida was without Ds Erik Gudbranson and Willie Mitchell and RW Jaromir Jagr due to a flu that is making its way through the team's locker room, prompting the Panthers to call up D Shane O'Brien while calling off Friday's practice. ... The Stars were without D Trevor Daley, who was injured on a knee-on-knee hit by Matt Martin of the New York Islanders on Tuesday. ... Panthers starting G Roberto Luongo (shoulder) is expected to miss two games while backup Al Montoya (groin) will be out at least two weeks.