National Hockey League
Dallas 5, Detroit 2
When: 8:30 PM ET, Thursday, January 12, 2017
Where: American Airlines Center, Dallas, Texas
Referees: T.J. Luxmore, Brad Watson
Linesmen: Darren Gibbs, Shane Heyer
Attendance: 18532

DALLAS -- The Dallas Stars last defeated the Detroit Red Wings at American Airlines Center more than six years ago.

Thanks to goals from John Klingberg and Stephen Johns 49 seconds apart late in the second period, that streak ended Thursday. Antti Niemi stopped 31 of 33 shots, and the Stars prevailed 5-2, Dallas' first home win against Detroit since Oct. 14, 2010.

"I thought we got off to a good start, but the penalties in the first period hurt us. Played a great second period," Stars coach Lindy Ruff said. "Coming off the road (trip), and playing four in six (days), with the travel from the West back home, I thought the effort was good. We almost hurt ourselves with discipline issues."

Lauri Korpikoski, Brett Ritchie and Patrick Eaves also scored for Dallas (18-17-8), which won only its second game against an Eastern Conference foe this season (2-6-3).

The Stars are 12-6-4 on home ice, and Niemi is 14-3-3 in his career against the Red Wings.

"He played fabulous," Ruff said of Niemi. "He made three or four highlight-reel saves for us."

Eaves added an empty-net goal with 1:06 remaining, his 15th of the season.

Detroit (17-19-6) got goals from Henrik Zetterberg and Gustav Nyquist, and each added an assist. The Red Wings finished their seven-game road trip 2-3-2 and are 10-9-3 on the road.

"(The road trip) is behind us," Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said. "I don't think about what's happened. We move forward here, so we got to find a way on Saturday (against Pittsburgh) to make sure that we're better than we were defensively tonight."

Petr Mrazek stopped 16 of 20 shots in a losing effort for Detroit before leaving the ice with 3:21 remaining. Mrazek returned to the crease following Eaves' empty-netter.

"I thought he battled," Blashill said of Mrazek. "He looks like he's in a good spot in his game."

Dallas took an early lead when Korpikoski redirected a Jordie Benn shot for his sixth goal of the season 3:39 into the game. Benn took a wrist shot from near the Detroit blue line, and Korpikoski got the end of his stick on it to give the Stars a 1-0 advantage.

Korpikoski has points in three of his past four games.

Detroit pulled the game level with 5:51 remaining before the first intermission when Nyquist scored a power-play goal, the Red Wings' first road power-play goal since Oct. 19. Nyquist scored by tapping in a pass from Thomas Vanek at the near post during a five-on-three situation.

Prior to Nyquist's tally, the Detroit power play was scoreless in its previous 57 road opportunities. Nyquist's goal was just the Red Wings' third road power-play goal this season.

"Once we scored that power-play goal, I thought we started playing well," Blashill said. "We got to be tighter defensively. We cannot continue to give up this many goals and expect to win."

Detroit took its first lead when Zetterberg scored his eighth goal of the season from the slot with 4:18 remaining in the first period. Nyquist assisted with a well-placed pass from behind the Stars goal following a costly turnover by Dallas rookie defenseman Esa Lindell behind his own net.

The Stars tied it at 2-2 when Ritchie redirected a Radek Faksa slap shot for his ninth goal of the season 3:31 into the second period. Ritchie got his stick on a Faksa blast from the deep left point.

"I was just trying to get to the front of the net," Ritchie said. "I knew (Faksa) was going to shoot it. It was sort of a quick reaction, sort of a lucky tip, it was good to get a stick on it."

The Stars regained the lead with 4:07 remaining in the second period when Klingberg scored his sixth goal of the season off a rebound. Mrazek denied the initial attempt by Devin Shore, but Klingberg deftly popped in the rebound with a backhand.

"I really like where it (my game) is right now," Klingberg said. "I think defensively I've been playing really good. Offensively, I've been getting a lot of chances, too."

Dallas added another goal 49 seconds later. Red Wings defenseman Jonathan Ericsson got his stick on Johns' slap shot from the deep right circle, deflecting the puck enough to send it through Mrazek to make it a 4-2 contest.

The Red Wings' last serious chance to cut into the Dallas lead came with 5:38 remaining when Jason Spezza was called for tripping, but the Dallas penalty kill hung tough and snuffed out the chance.

"It's a tough loss for us. We wanted to finish the road trip with two points," Mrazek said.

NOTES: Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill made Thursday's morning skate optional. LW Tomas Tatar, who is bothered by pain in his left shoulder, participated in the workout after taking a maintenance day on Wednesday, and he played Thursday night. ... Stars LW Jamie Benn (foot) returned from a four-game absence. ... The Red Wings scratched RW Tomas Jurco, C Riley Sheahan and D Ryan Sproul. ... The Stars scratched RW Adam Cracknell, LW Curtis McKenzie and D Patrik Nemeth. ... Detroit concluded a seven-game road trip. ... Stars RW Patrick Eaves (2010-14) and LW Jiri Hudler (2006-09, 2010-12) both are former Red Wings. ... After the morning skate, Stars coach Lindy Ruff announced D Jamie Oleksiak (hand), who was injured in a 2-0 loss at Anaheim on Tuesday, would miss at least two weeks.
Top Game Performances
 
Detroit   Dallas
Gustav Nyquist 2 Points Patrick Eaves 1
Gustav Nyquist 1 Goals Patrick Eaves 1
Gustav Nyquist 1 Assists Jordie Benn 1
Gustav Nyquist 1 Power Play Goals N/A
N/A Short Handed Goals N/A
Petr Mrazek .800 Save Percentage Antti Niemi .939
Petr Mrazek 16 Saves Antti Niemi 31
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Shots Goals Power Play Penalty Kill Penalty Mins Face Offs Won
Detroit 33 2 1-5 1-1 2 31
Dallas 21 5 0-1 4-5 10 27
Upcoming Games
  • Dallas will play their next game at home against Minnesota. The Stars have a W/L % of .222 after a win and .560 after a loss.
  • Detroit will play their next game at home against Pittsburgh. The Red Wings have a W/L % of .471 after a win and .375 after a loss.