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 Dallas left winger and captain Jamie Benn stepped up with a goal and
an assist as did goalie Kari Lehtonen, who stopped 31 of 32 shots to
propel the Stars to a 2-1 victory.
"I thought it was a good win by our club," Stars coach Lindy Ruff
said. "I thought we really came out well, a real strong 40
(minutes). That third period was a pretty hard push by them. We have
to get by that, which I thought we did tonight."
Benn delivered the game-winner early in the second period, scoring
off a rebound for his first goal in 11 games. Stars rookie right
winger Brett Ritchie scored his sixth of the season 1:13 earlier.
Penguins coach Mike Johnston liked how his team weathered a strong
start by Dallas that saw them outshoot Pittsburgh 7-1 over the first
8:57 of the game.
"I knew they would have a big push in the first 10 minutes. We
talked about the first 10, how important they were," Johnston said.
"I thought they caught us on our heels. They really had a lot of
jump. They had the defense active on the rush and they created
probably three or four really good chances early."
In a game that was scoreless after one period, Dallas lit the lamp
twice within 1:23 early in the second to take a 2-0 lead.
Ritchie put the Stars ahead 1-0 with his sixth goal of the season
2:14 into the middle frame. Ritchie scored after an attempted pass
to center Shawn Horcoff deflected in off the stick of Penguins right
winger Beau Bennett.
"Good play by (Benn) to get to the net, and I tried to pass to
(Shawn Horcoff) back door," Ritchie said. "I think their guy sort of
dove and tried to block the pass, and I'm pretty sure it went
five-hole."
Benn then made it a two-goal game at 3:37 of the second with his
24th goal of the season off a rebound. Dallas center Tyler Seguin
was credited with the primary assist with a great pass from the
right circle to Benn, who was stationed near the far post.
Pittsburgh goalie Marc-Andre Fleury denied Benn's initial wrist shot
with his right pad, but Benn collected the carom and with Fleury
prone on the ice, tucked the puck inside the far post.
Benn's last goal had come Feb. 21, 2015, against Detroit.
The Penguins cut the Dallas lead in half at 13:26 of the second when
defenseman Kris Letang ended a 15-game goal drought with a
power-play goal. Letang's wrist shot from the left point traveled
through Lehtonen's legs to make it 2-1.
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Letang's 11th goal of the season came eight seconds after Stars
center Jason Spezza was whistled for tripping.
Pittsburgh was unable to find the equalizer in the third and lost
its fourth straight game.
"I thought he was good. He made the key saves when we needed, and
that's what we needed tonight," Ruff said of Lehtonen.
"Yeah, nobody likes to lose and it's not fun when you're losing,"
Penguins center and captain Sidney Crosby said. "I think we have to
realize that we need to give ourselves better chances to win games.
"There's too many times I think within these four games for periods
of time in the game where we really just haven't given ourselves a
chance. Right now, regardless of goals or whatever, we just got to
give ourselves a chance with the way we work and execute and see
what happens from there."
NOTES: The Penguins scratched RW Patric Hornqvist (undisclosed) and
C Evgeni Malkin (lower body). ... The Stars scratched D Trevor Daley
(lower body), RW Patrick Eaves and LW Travis Moen (upper body).
Eaves was a healthy scratch for the first time since returning on
March 1 against Anaheim after missing the previous seven games with
a concussion. ... Penguins G Marc-Andre Fleury made his 55th start
of the season. ... Stars G Kari Lehtonen started his fourth
consecutive game. ... Pittsburgh is in game two of a three-game road
trip that will also take it to Arizona on Saturday. ... Stars LW
Ryan Garbutt returned to the fourth line after being a healthy
scratch in the previous three games.
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reserved.]
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