EditorsNote: changes to "six points" in seventh graf; changes to "39 seconds" in 11th graf
Jamie Benn scored for the third consecutive game, breaking a tie with 4:21 remaining, as the host Dallas Stars defeated the Winnipeg Jets 5-3 Thursday night in a matchup of two of the hottest teams in the NHL's Western Conference.
Benn's goal came 25 seconds after Winnipeg's Luca Sbisa scored to tie it at 3-3 as the Jets overcame a three-goal deficit.
Benn kept the puck in the offensive zone at the blue line, made a self pass off the side boards to get past a defenseman and skated to the net, beating goaltender Connor Hellebuyck with a backhander. It was the fourth goal in the past three games for the Stars' captain, who had just one goal in the first 20 games of the season.
Tyler Seguin added a empty-netter to cap the scoring with 34.8 seconds left.
Mattias Janmark, Jason Dickinson and Radek Faksa also scored for Dallas, which won its season-high fifth consecutive game and extended its points streak to 10 games (9-0-1). Corey Perry had three assists, and goaltender Ben Bishop made 23 saves.
Kyle Connor and Patrik Laine also scored for the Jets, who were trying to sweep their four-game trip. Hellebuyck stopped 31 of 35 shots for the Jets, who were 7-1-1 in their previous nine games.
The Stars got their first two goals from their fourth line, which combined for six points.
Janmark, who had missed the previous four games with a lower-body injury, opened the scoring at 7:37 of the second period, batting home a rebound.
Dickinson made it 2-0 at 9:43, redirecting a shot from the point off the right post and into the net.
Faksa made it 3-0 at 13:19 on a shot from the right faceoff dot. The puck went off Hellebuyck's blocker and high in the air, falling on the goal line before the goalie inadvertently kicked it into the net with the bottom of his right skate.
The Jets countered 39 seconds later as Connor took a pass from Mark Scheifele on the rush and beat Bishop through the five-hole.
Winnipeg pulled within a goal at 8:35 of the third as a shot from the point deflected off Laine's chest and into the net.
--Field Level Media
