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Benn leads Stars over Hurricanes

Feb 28, 2014 - 6:06 AM Dallas, TX (SportsNetwork.com) - Jamie Benn posted a goal and two assists as the Dallas Stars took a 4-1 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday.

Cody Eakin, Brenden Dillon and Tyler Seguin also had goals, while Kari Lehtonen stopped 26 shots for the Stars, who had won three of four prior to the Olympic break.

"He gave us some real big, timely saves," said Dallas head coach Lindy Ruff about Lehtonen. "Not a lot in the first 40 but there were some timely saves that kept them off the board. And I thought in the third there were a few more quality opportunities where they could have closed the gap on us but he shut the door."

Eric Staal scored and Anton Khudobin stopped 30 shots for the Hurricanes, who have dropped three straight after losing to Buffalo on Tuesday in their first game back.

"He's an elite goalie. He's doing the job every night," said Carolina head coach Kirk Muller about Khudobin. "He gave us the chance again to stay in this game. He made some amazing, huge saves. But like I said, we just didn't get the goals and give him a chance to win this hockey game tonight."

Dallas scored at 3:18 of the first period as Valeri Nichushkin skated down the right wing and sent a perfect backhand over to the left side where Seguin slammed it home for his 25th of the year.

Skating shorthanded, the Stars made it a 2-0 game four minutes later when Benn brought the puck in down the middle and lost it, but Dillon was there to pick it up and snap in a wrister for his sixth of the campaign.

Dallas took a 3-0 lead with another shorthanded goal, as Benn skated down the ice and went up the middle to split the defense before stuffing a forehand past the right pad of Khudobin for his 23rd of the year at 18:35 of the second.

Carolina finally got on the board at 2:42 of the third as Staal flicked a shot on net from a sharp angle at the right side that hit off the skate of Lehtonen and snuck in.

The Hurricanes then had a three-minute power play as Antoine Roussel charged into Khudobin. That brewed a fight with Ron Hainsey and after the dust settled, Roussel was given a major for charging and fighting, along with a game misconduct, while Hainsey was handed an instigator minor, along with a fighting major and misconduct.

They were unable to take advantage of the power play, though, as Tuomo Ruutu took a high sticking call a minute later, and the Dallas defense kept the puck away from the net.

Eakin sealed the win with an empty-netter inside the final minute.

Game Notes

Dallas hosts Tampa Bay on Saturday ... Carolina continues its five-game road trip in Los Angeles on Saturday ... Dallas has won four straight over Carolina ... The Stars have not lost a home game in this series since dropping a one on Feb. 11, 1996, to the Hartford Whalers.