ESPN

DALLAS -- Defenseman Brenden Dillon made his NHL debut for the Dallas Stars on Saturday night, and he made an impression.

The 21-year-old had a game-high six shots on goal, tied for a game-high four hits and co-led the Stars with three blocked shots in 19:59 of ice time in the Stars’ 3-2 loss to St. Louis.

“It was good. I got the nerves out early,” Dillon said. “On my first shift I took a nice little bump in the corner and that gave me a little wake up call, let me know that I’m in an NHL game. As the game went on, I felt really good. Moving the puck, joining the play, had a good couple of hits and stuff. I thought it went well.”

Dillon, a free agent signing out of the Western Hockey League last year, was paired with Trevor Daley in the game. He saw time on both the power play and the penalty kill.

“It was great. I got everything,” Dillon said. “I can’t thank Gully (Stars coach Glen Gulutzan) and the Stars organization enough for everything. They gave me a great opportunity today.”

And Gulutzan said he thought Dillon made the most of the opportunity.

“I thought his game was strong,” said Stars coach Glen Gulutzan. “I can see he’s made strides from when I had him a year ago (in the AHL). I think you guys can judge for yourselves, but I think he’s going to be right around it come September.”

Glennie makes NHL debut

Forward Scott Glennie, the team’s first round pick (8^th overall) in 2009, made his NHL debut Saturday. The 21-year-old played 9:35, had no points, no shots and two hits.

“It was really fun,” Glennie said. “I was a little bit nervous out there, but it was a great experience to get my first NHL game under my belt. I had a lot of fun out there, but it’s too bad we lost. Hopefully I can get in a few more next year.”

Bachman shines

Stars backup goaltender Richard Bachman had a solid showing Saturday, stopping 32 of 35 shots.

“He was very good,” said Stars coach Glen Gulutzan. “I think he has proven himself on the big stage, against the Rangers and LA and games like that. I think he’s proven himself in a tough game like tonight that he’s a mentally strong, capable goalie.”

Bachman ended the season with an 8-5-1 record, 2.77 goals against average and .910 save percentage.

Gulutzan indicated Bachman’s season could be continuing on the international stage.

“I’m pretty sure he is getting invited somewhere here in the next 24 hours,” Gulutzan said. “I think the World Championships are on and that’s a credit to him.”

The Dallas Stars’ quest for a playoff spot ended in Nashville on Thursday night. A 2-0 loss to the Predators mathematically eliminated the Stars from the playoff race.

The Stars now have missed the playoffs four straight seasons, the longest postseason drought in franchise history.

"It's frustrating, disappointing. It doesn’t get easier,” Stars captain Brenden Morrow said. “You always want to win that last one and give our fans the opportunity to see playoff hockey again. They deserve it. Ever since Mr. [Tom] Gaglardi took over [as owner], they’ve been out to support us and root us on. It would have been nice to give them the opportunity to see some playoff hockey.”

Needing a win to keep their hopes alive, the Stars played the Predators to a scoreless tie through the first two periods. But Nashville got that key first goal with 15:32 left in the game when Patric Hornqvist came out from behind the net and put a shot on net and defenseman Francis Bouillon put the rebound past Stars goalie Kari Lehtonen.

“Good things happen when you take it to the net,” Hornqvist said.

Hornqvist sealed the win for the Predators when he was able to get to the rebound of a Brandon Yip shot and give Nashville a 2-0 lead with just 2:00 left in the game.

The Stars pulled Lehtonen a short time later for the extra attacker and had a late power play but weren’t able to get a puck past Predators goalie Pekka Rinne, who stopped 28 shots for his fifth shutout of the season and his league-best 43rd win.

"The guys did a great job,” Rinne said. “They had a good push there at the end but we did a really good job fiveonfive and on the penalty kill. It was just a solid game. We didn’t do anything out of the ordinary."

It was the second time in the past three games the Stars were shut out.

“It was a good hockey game; we just didn’t get the result we wanted,” Stars coach Glen Gulutzan said. “We played hard, and I liked the way we competed. It was a one-goal hockey game, who could manage to get that one in, and they managed to do so.”

Nashville moved one point ahead of Detroit for the fourth seed in the Western Conference. The Stars, who have lost eight of their past 11 games, wrap up their season Saturday against St. Louis and then will have another long offseason.

“It’s tough,” Stars forward Steve Ott said. “It’s never fun and it’s the worst feeling for a professional hockey player.”

Notes: Fistric injured

*Stars defenseman Mark Fistric left the game in the second period with a groin injury and did not return.

*The Stars were 0-4 on the power play and are now 1-25 on the power play over the past eight games. For the season, the Stars are 30^th in the league at 13.8 percent.

*The Stars did change things up on the power play, loading up the first unit with a four-forward look of Loui Eriksson, Jamie Benn, Michael Ryder and Mike Ribeiro, along with defenseman Stephane Robidas.

*Right wing Radek Dvorak returned to the lineup after missing the previous five games with an ankle injury.

*Scratches for the Stars were Jake Dowell, Tomas Vincour, Toby Petersen, Reilly Smith and Adam Pardy.

DALLAS -- The opportunities were there for the Dallas Stars on Tuesday night, but the finish wasn’t. And now they are perilously close to being finished in the Western Conference playoff race after a 5-2 loss to the San Jose Sharks at American Airlines Center.

“It stings,” said Stars captain Brenden Morrow. “You’d like to be able to control your own fate. We had that tonight, we let it go and now we are going to need a lot of help.”

The loss left the Stars three points behind the eighth place Sharks, four points behind seventh place Phoenix and four points behind Pacific Division leading Los Angeles with two games remaining. The Stars will need to win both games and hope for at least one of those teams to falter.

“It’s going to be tough, but we just can’t quit,” said Morrow. “Stranger things have happened. We are going to need a lot of help, some people to do us some favors. “

The Stars, who have lost seven of their last ten games, didn’t do themselves any favors Tuesday night. They missed on a 57 second five-on-three power play with the game tied 1-1. San Jose scored the game-winning goal on the power play.

“They got their third goal on the power play, and that can be a big difference in the hockey game,” said Stars defenseman Stephane Robidas. “We score on the five-on-three, and we’ve got a five-on-four after that and we get another one, maybe it’s a different game. But we didn’t.”

After going up 2-1 in the game in the second period, they allowed the Sharks to tie the game just 32 seconds later.

“It’s always the shift right after a goal you need a good shift, and we just didn’t get it,” said Stars coach Glen Gulutzan. “It got them right back in the game. We had no chance to build off that momentum of that goal.”

The Stars had a great chance to tie the game with a little more than five minutes, but Jamie Benn’s breakaway bid was turned away by Sharks goalie Antti Niemi. About 30 seconds later the Sharks scored to extend their lead to 4-2.

“We got to spring Jamie on a breakaway, but we were already in trouble at that point,” said Gulutzan. “It would have been nice, but there were a few things throughout the game that we could have done better.”

The Stars had the momentum early in the game, dominating play outshooting the Sharks 8-1 midway through the first period. But the Sharks got on the board 12:09 into the game when Daniel Winnik put a rebound past Kari Lehtonen, who appeared to be interfered with just before the puck went into the net.

The Stars answered late in the period when Brenden Morrow came out from behind the goal line and beat Niemi with a sharp angle backhand shot at the 17:47 mark.

The Stars had a big chance to take the lead when they had 57 seconds of five-on- three power play time that started late in the first and had 38 seconds remaining when the second period began. But they couldn’t get a shot on net, and then failed to take advantage of the remaining five-on-four time.

“We just didn’t execute,” said Gulutzan.

The Stars did take the lead at even strength at the 11:10 mark. Jamie Benn sent a pass from behind the goal line to Alex Goligoski, who beat Niemi with a shot from the point.

But the Sharks scored just 32 seconds later when Dominic Moore sent a puck from behind the goal line to T.J. Galiardi, who roofed a shot over Lehtonen.

“About two weeks ago we were talking about those. We call them bump-up goals,” said Sharks coach Todd McLellan. “Right after you get scored on when you do, then you go out, win a draw, play in the other team’s end and get a big goal.”

The Sharks took the lead with a power play goal with 2:36 left in the second. Martin Havlat centered the puck from the right boards and Logan Couture redirected it past Lehtonen to make it a 3-2 game.

The Stars had a great chance to tie with just over five minutes remaining when Benn got a breakaway, but his backhand bid was stopped by Niemi.

“Huge, if he doesn’t make that it’s a different game,” said Sharks center Joe Thornton. “It’s a set play. We’ve seen him do it in the past. We just kind of fell asleep. He’s a world-class goalie and he makes that save. Saved our bacon again tonight.”

About 30 seconds later, Thornton scored off a wrist shot from the right circle to make it a 4-2 San Jose lead with 4:50 remaining in the game. Ryane Clowe added an empty net goal to make it a 5-2 final and give the Sharks the sweep of a crucial home-and-home series with the Stars.

“The two games against Dallas were the two biggest games of the year,” said McLellan. “We’re in a playoff series, we talked about that. When you can win back-to-back games in a playoff series – one at home and one on the road – you usually set yourself up pretty well. Very big, considering that four points went into our account and none went into theirs.”

And now the Stars will move onto play at Nashville, where they’ll need a win to keep their slim playoff hopes alive.

“You have to move forward and now we need help,” said Gulutzan. “You just start preparing and get ready for Nashville. It’s business as usual. There’s no other way to look at it. It’s business as usual. We’ve got to go win a game.”

Notes

*The Sharks won five of six games against the Stars this season. Not including the goal awarded for the shootout win, the Sharks outscored the Stars 25-10 in the season series.

*The Stars have two games remaining in the regular season. They play at Nashville Thursday and host St. Louis Saturday.

*The Stars are 0-11 on the power play over their last four games and 1-21 (4.8%) on the PP over the last seven games.

*The Stars have allowed six power play goals over the last five games and are 17-23 (73.9%) on the penalty kill during that stretch.

*Stars RW Radek Dvorak missed his fifth straight game with an ankle injury.

*Toby Petersen, Reilly Smith, Tom Wandell and Adam Pardy were healthy scratches for Dallas.

*Tuesday’s attendance was 18,584, a sellout.

With three games left in the season the Dallas Stars are now on the outside looking in at a playoff spot. The Stars fell to ninth place in the Western Conference Saturday, falling 3-0 to the Sharks in San Jose.

The Sharks, who entered the game one point behind the Stars, started strong, scoring in the first minute of the game and controlling play for most of the night.

“We needed to put more pucks on their net, create some more residual chances there. They had a lot of jump and did it to us,” Stars coach Glen Gulutzan said. “They got that one early and it kind of set us back. The early jump was kind of the difference.”

Sharks center Joe Thornton set up a wide open Joe Pavelski, who beat Stars goalie Kari Lehtonen with a shot from the slot just 58 seconds into the game to give San Jose an early 1-0 lead.

The Stars put the Sharks on three power play s in the first period and San Jose cashed in on the third one. Martin Havlat set up Jason Demers, who scored from the left circle late in the period to give the Sharks a 2-0 lead.

It was not the first period the Stars needed.

“Our start, for one thing. I think they doubled up on us in shots early in the game. We wanted to be disciplined and stay out of the penalty box. We didn’t do that. They made us pay on the power play,” Stars captain Brenden Morrow said. “Playing with more desperation. Our backs are against the wall. It was kind of a must win for us and we didn’t get the start we needed.”

Pavelski added another goal in the second period. Antti Niemi stopped a total of 22 shots for the Sharks, who outshot the Stars 34-22 in the game.

“It was the biggest game of the year for us,” Thornton said. “We started well and I though we competed hard all the way through. It was a good job by us.”

The Stars have lost six of their last nine games and went 1-3-0 on their just concluded four-game road trip. They fell to 1-11-2 in the second games of back-to backs.

“I was a little bit worried about this game coming in. We’ve never been good in back-to-backs,” Gulutzan said. “The whole road trip, I was most disappointed with the Calgary game (5-4 loss). We’d be sitting in a different situation in a winnable hockey game.”

The Stars are one point behind the eighth place Sharks, who will be at American Airlines Center Tuesday to conclude the home-and-home series.

“We’ve got to move on. We’ve got a big game against this team Tuesday,” Gulutzan said. “Our fate is in our own hands, still, and at this juncture of the season that is what you have to focus on.”

The Stars have three games remaining and it’s a tough schedule. They host San Jose onTuesday, play at Nashville on Thursday and then wrap up the season with a game against St. Louis on Saturday at American Airlines Center.

“We are where we are and, like I said, we still control our own destiny,” Gulutzan said. “We don’t need someone to beat somebody else. We just need to win our last three games.”

And that quest starts Tuesday with the rematch against the Sharks.

“We’ve just got to bounce back,” Dallas defenseman Stephane Robidas said. “We’ve got to learn from what we did wrong tonight. We’re playing the same team, so it should be fresh in our memory. It won’t be a different system, we know how they play and what they’re trying to do. It’s a good team, but it’s a team we can beat.”

Notes

*Stars defenseman Mark Fistric returned to the lineup after missing the last five games with an abdominal strain.

*Stars forward Toby Petersen was in the lineup after being a healthy scratch the past 15 games. He played 4:46 in the game.

*Radek Dvorak (ankle), Eric Nystrom (leg) and Tom Wandell (illness) were out for Dallas.

*Reilly Smith, Adam Pardy and Jordie Benn were healthy scratches for Dallas.

Here are some postgame quotes following the Dallas Stars’ 3-0 loss at San Jose Saturday night.

Stars coach Glen Gulutzan

“We needed to put more pucks on their net, create some more residual chances there. They had a lot of jump and did it to us. They got that one early and it kind of set us back. The early jump was kind of the difference.”

“We’ve got to move on. We’ve got a big game against this team Tuesday. Our fate is in our own hands, still, and at this juncture of the season that is what you have to focus on.”

Gulutzan on the 1-3-0 road trip

“I was a little bit worried about this game coming in. We’ve never been good in back-to-backs. The whole road trip, I was most disappointed with the Calgary game. We’d be sitting in a different situation in a winnable hockey game. But we are where we are and, like I said, we still control our own destiny. We don’t need someone to beat somebody else. We just need to win our last three games.”

Stars captain Brenden Morrow on what went wrong

“Pretty much everything. Our start, for one thing. I think they doubled up on us in shots early in the game. We wanted to be disciplined and stay out of the penalty box. We didn’t do that. They made us pay on the power play. Playing with more desperation. Our backs are against the wall. It was kind of a must win for us and we didn’t get the start we needed.”

Stars defenseman Stephane Robidas

“We’ve just got to bounce back. We’ve got to learn from what we did wrong tonight. We’re playing the same team, so it should be fresh in our memory. It won’t be a different system, we know how they play and what they’re trying to do. It’s a good team, but it’s a team we can beat.”

In a tight playoff race and needing points, the Dallas Stars couldn’t find a way to get any in Vancouver on Friday night, falling 5-2 to the Canucks. But they’ve got to put the loss behind them and move on to San Jose, where they open a crucial home-and-home series with the Sharks Saturday night.

“We need to find a way to regroup. We have a big home-and-home against San Jose. We’ve got to focus on that,” said Stars forward Steve Ott. “We’ve got to kick the loss as soon as we can and move on to the next game because there are only four games left.”

Friday’s loss in Vancouver knocked the Stars out of first place in the Pacific Division and third in the Western Conference to seventh in the West. They trail Los Angeles, a 4-1 winner in Edmonton Friday night, by one point in the division and lead the ninth place San Jose Sharks by one point.

“We have a chance to control our own destiny and that starts tomorrow,” said Stars forward Jake Dowell. “We’ll be glum about this tonight, but tomorrow we’ll get back at it.”

The Stars had a chance to enhance their destiny Friday night, but Vancouver Canucks goaltender Cory Schneider wouldn’t have any part of it. He turned in a stellar performance, stopping 28 of 30 shots to lead Vancouver past the Stars.

“I thought we played well. We had chances. Five-on-five I thought we were going real good, but once again (Cory Schneider) was real good and made good saves on us,” said Stars coach Glen Gulutzan. “You run it into that every now and then. Goalies win you games and our goalie has won us enough this year. I thought it was a pretty equal game, but Schneider withstood the test. … We played well. We just didn’t get anything to go and we made a few mistakes that cost us. You can’t do that against Vancouver.”

The Stars played a strong first period, outshooting the Canucks 13-8. But the Canucks scored the only goal of the period. Jannik Hansen set up Chris Higgins, who beat Kari Lehtonen with a quick shot from the slot at the 6:43 mark.

Cory Schneider, who got the start in goal because Roberto Luongo had some stiffness in his neck, was sharp in the first, making several nice stops to keep the Stars off the scoreboard.

The Stars drew even early in the second period, when Ott scored off the rebound of a Jamie Benn shot at the 3:16 mark.

But Schneider kept the Stars from taking the lead with some big saves while the Stars were shorthanded. He stopped Ott busting in on net and then made a spectacular toe save on Loui Eriksson during Vancouver’s second power play of the game.

He then stopped Vernon Fiddler’s point blank shorthanded attempt during the Canucks third power play of the game. But the Canucks ended up taking the lead on that power play when Sami Salo scored on a blast from the right point at the 11:01 mark. A little more than five minutes later, Vancouver defenseman Andrew Alberts took a pass from Henrik Sedin and scored from the left circle to make it a 3-1 game.

“That’s why the goaltender is there. He was able to keep us in the game until we were able to score a couple of goals,” said Canucks coach Alain Vigneault.

The Canucks extended their lead to 4-1 at 9:06 of the third when Sedin set up Alex Burrows, who scored from close range. A short time later the Stars pulled goalie Kari Lehtonen, to rest his for Saturday’s crucial game in San Jose.

Richard Bachman took over in net and Vancouver’s Maxim Lapierre cashed in on a wide open look from the slot to make it a 5-1 game.

Dowell scored a late goal to make it a 5-2 final.

Notes

*The Stars ended the season 14-6-0 against the Northwest Division.

*Stars forward Reilly Smith, playing in his second NHL game, played 7:47 and had one shot on goal. He started the game on the fourth line, but in the third period was bumped up to the second line with Jamie Benn and Steve Ott.

*Mark Fistric (abdominal strain), Radek Dvorak (ankle) and Eric Nystrom (leg) were out for Dallas.

*The Stars were 0-1 on the power play and 2-3 on the penalty kill in the game.

Here are some postgame quotes following the Dallas Stars’ 5-2 loss at Vancouver on Friday night.

Stars coach Glen Gulutzan

“I thought we played well. We had chances. Five-on-five I thought we were going real good, but once again (Cory Schneider) was real good and made good saves on us. In the second the save on Loui Eriksson, could have made it 2-1. You run it into that every now and then. Goalies win you games and our goalie has won us enough this year. I thought it was a pretty equal game, but Schneider withstood the test."

"We played well. We just didn’t get anything to go and we made a few mistakes that cost us. You can’t do that against Vancouver."

Stars captain Brenden Morrow on the loss

“It’s big. It just puts a little more pressure on that one tomorrow and they only get bigger after that. We came on this road and lost one in Calgary and lost one here. It just puts more pressure and desperation on those next games.”

“We’ve got to try to find something positive because we are going right back at it tomorrow. You’ve got to slap yourself in the butt and then park it and try to get ready for that next game in less than 24 hours.”

Stars forward Steve forward Steve Ott

“We need to find a way to regroup. We have a big home-and-home against San Jose. We’ve got to focus on that. We’ve got to kick the loss as soon as we can and move on to the next game because there are only four games left.”

A stellar outing from Kari Lehtonen and a productive night for the top line helped pushed the Dallas Stars back to the top of the Pacific Division on Wednesday night. Lehtonen made 31 saves and Michael Ryder, Mike Ribeiro and Loui Eriksson combined for three goals and five assists as the Stars beat the Edmonton Oilers, 3-1, at Rexall Place.

The Stars now have a one point lead over both Los Angeles and San Jose in the division. They have a two point lead on Phoenix, which also holds the ninth place spot in the Western Conference. All four teams have five games remaining.

“We are in a battle for our lives and we need every point we can get,” said Stars coach Glen Gulutzan. “Getting two tonight was big for us.”

It was a strong bounced back effort for the Stars, who were coming off a 5-4 loss in Calgary on Monday night to open their four game road trip.

“The last game we kind of took the flow away from ourselves with some penalties and stuff like that. Tonight our PK was good and Lehts (Kari Lehtonen) was great again,” said Ryder. “It’s a matter of doing the little things right now and make sure we don’t make those key mistakes and sticking to the hard game plan.”

Lehtonen came up with several big stops in the game for the Stars, including early. He had a sharp save on Ben Eager and then stopped Nick Schultz on a shorthanded two-on-one to keep it scoreless game in the first period.

“He’s an elite goalie; he’s up there with the big guys,” said Gulutzan. “He’s one of the reasons we’re fighting for this division title and fighting for our lives to get into the playoffs. When you get goaltending like that every night it gives your guys confidence. He’s our MVP.”

Ryder got the Stars on the scoreboard 11:53 into the game, splitting two Edmonton defenseman and then beating Oilers goalie Devan Dubnyk with a backhand shot.

The Stars extended the lead to 2-0 early in the second by cashing in on a two-on-one as Ribeiro finished off a give-and-go with Erikson.

Lehtonen came up with a huge save early in the third period, stopping a Jordan Eberle shorthanded breakaway to keep the Stars up 2-0.

“I had enough time to see who was coming and remember how he likes to deke on the penalty shots and breakaways,” Lehtonen said. “I had a feeling what might be coming, but he made that deke so fast I was lucky to get to get something there.”

Gulutzan’s thoughts on the save: “Huge. Huge. He’s been doing that all year. That’s why we are here.”

The Stars extended the lead to 3-0 a couple minutes later when Eriksson won a puck battle near the Edmonton goal line, got the puck to Ribeiro, who then quickly set up Ryder, who scored from close range.

Ryder ended the night with a two goals and an assist, Ribeiro had one goal and two assists and Eriksson chipped in two assists.

“We’ve been living and dying with that line for the last 15 games. They bounced back tonight. They were real sharp and made some real nice plays,” said Gulutzan. “Your big players have to be your best players in these games and they were tonight.”

The Oilers scored with 11:39 remaining when Ales Hemsky scored on a rebound. It came just moments after Lehtonen was stung by a high, hard shot off the stick of Ryan Smyth.

“It was a stinger up from the shot,” said Gulutzan. “I know he can play through those.”

The loss ended a seven game points streak for the Oilers.

“They didn’t do anything spectacular over there,” said Eberle. “The few mistakes we made they capitalized on. We just couldn’t find a way to battle back into a game that was important for us.”

Notes

*The Stars swept the season series from the Oilers, outscoring them 14-4 in the four games.

*The Stars are 14-5-0 against the Northwest Division this season.

*The Stars were 4-4 on the penalty kill in the game and 0-5 on the power play.

*Stars forward Reilly Smith made his NHL debut Wednesday. He played 4:05 and had one shot on goal.

*Radek Dvorak (ankle), Eric Nystrom (leg) and Mark Fistric (abdominal strain) were out for Dallas.

*Tom Wandell, Toby Petersen and Jordie Benn were healthy scratches.

Here are some postgame quotes following the Dallas Stars 3-1 win in Edmonton on Wednesday night.

Stars coach Glen Gulutzan

“We are in a battle for our lives and we need every point we can get. Getting two tonight was big for us.”

“We were a little shaky early and Lehts (Kari Lehtonen) was solid and made some real big saves. I thought we got our legs and made some nice plays, but it was a tough game.”

Gulutzan on Kari Lehtonen, who made 31 saves

“He’s an elite goalie; he’s up there with the big guys. He’s one of the reasons we’re fighting for this division title and fighting for our lives to get into the playoffs. When you get goaltending like that every night it gives your guys confidence. He’s our MVP.”

Stars forward Michael Ryder

“The last game we kind of took the flow away from ourselves with some penalties and stuff like that. Tonight our PK was good and Lehts (Kari Lehtonen) was great again. It’s a matter of doing the little things right now and make sure we don’t make those key mistakes and sticking to the hard game plan.”

Stars goaltender Kari Lehtonen on his save on Jordan Eberle’s shorthanded breakaway

“I had enough time to see who was coming and remember how he likes to deke on the penalty shots and breakaways. I had a feeling what might be coming, but he made that deke so fast I was lucky to get to get something there.”

Stars forward Reilly Smith on his NHL debut

“I was just happy that my feet got under me as soon as I hopped over the bench. I was definitely pretty nervous. I actually got a pretty good opportunity my shift. That settled the nerves a little bit. I am pretty happy with the way things went.”

Oilers coach Tom Renney

“We felt right into the trap. They played a good road game and we tried to do some extraordinary things, we turned the puck over and they scored. We weren’t very good in our own end defensively and that includes the forecheck.”

Needing wins or at least points in a tight playoff race, the Dallas Stars found a way to get neither Monday night in Calgary. Penalties and turnovers proved costly as the Stars fell 5-4 to the Flames.

The Stars, who had 1-0 and 2-1 leads in the game, gave up four goals in the second period, one off a turnover and two off Calgary power plays.

“We gave them what happened tonight. We had the game, we were in a good spot at 2-1, then we make an error and then we take penalty after penalty until they get a two goal lead. Dumb, dumb penalties,” said Stars coach Glen Gulutzan. “You’ve got to learn how to win and the way we went about it doesn’t look like we want to win. It really doesn’t. They’ve got to figure that out for themselves.”

The Stars’ penalty kill, which has been stellar as of late, gave up three power play goals on six shorthanded opportunities. Calgary scored twice on the power play late in the second to turn a 3-3 game into a 5-3 Calgary lead.

“We got into penalty trouble and their power play beat us tonight,” said Stars defenseman Sheldon Souray. “We weren’t as disciplined as we have been. We talked about that and we just got a little bit away from that. We just let them get on the power play way too much tonight.”

The loss, their fourth in the last six games, dropped the Stars to seventh place in the Western Conference standings. They are one point out of the first in the Pacific Division and the third seed in the West, but still just one point ahead of ninth place.

“It’s a tough game to lose. We definitely needed these two points,” said Stars forward Jamie Benn. “We had too many turnovers and too many costly penalties. We shoot ourselves in the foot tonight.”

Benn gave the Stars a 1-0 lead 24 seconds into the game, beating Flames goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff with a shot from beyond the left circle off the rush. Calgary tied with an Olli Jokinen power play goal at 6:53 of the first.

Benn scored 44 seconds into the second period on a shot from the slot off the rush to put the Stars up 2-1, and after the next shift, with his team looking out of sync, Flames coach Brent Sutter called a timeout.

“Do you really want to know,” Sutter said when asked what he said during the timeout. “It was just get back to settling down and playing our game.”

Midway through the period, the Flames scored two goals in 45 seconds apart to take a 3-2 lead. The first one came at the 9:16 mark when Stars forward Mike Ribeiro’s pass into the slot in the Dallas zone went right onto the stick of Calgary’s Blake Comeau, who ripped the puck past Kari Lehtonen to tie the game.

At the 10:01 mark Mike Cammalleri scored on the rebound of Anton Babchuk shot after the Flames had won an offensive zone draw.

Ribeiro scored off a rebound with 5:31 left in the second to tie the game at 3-3, but Stars defenseman Stephane Robidas was called for tripping 30 seconds later and Calgary scored just before Robidas came out of the penalty box. Mark Giordano scored off a blast form the point with 3:02 left in the period.

Ninety seconds later, Stars forward Steve Ott was called for tripping and the Flames struck again on the power play to make it a 5-3 game. Cammalleri set up Alex Tanguay, who scored from the slot.

Philip Larsen scored on the power play for the Stars early in the third, but Dallas could never get the equalizer.

The Flames snapped a five-game winless streak and pulled to within two points of the final playoff spot in the Western Conference.

“If you look at the standings we are definitely not out of it,” said Giordano. “We got a big win tonight, and we’ll go game-by-game here.”

Notes

*The Stars lost left wing Eric Nystrom in the first period after he was cut on the leg. He is day-to-day, according to Stars coach Glen Gulutzan.

*Stars right wing Radek Dvorak missed Monday’s game due to a sore ankle.

*Tom Wandell, Toby Petersen, Jordie Benn and Reilly Smith were scratched for Dallas.

*The Stars allowed three power play goals in a game for the second time this season. They allowed three in a 5-4 shootout win at Los Angeles on January 12.

*Stars forward Jamie Benn has eight goals in the last ten games.

Here are some postgame quotes following the Dallas Stars’ 5-4 loss in Calgary on Monday night.

Stars coach Glen Gulutzan

“We gave them what happened tonight. We had the game, we were in a good spot at 2-1, then we make an error and then we take penalty after penalty until they get a two goal lead. Dumb, dumb penalties. … You’ve got to learn how to win and the way we went about it doesn’t look like we want to win. It really doesn’t. They’ve got to figure that out for themselves.”

Stars defenseman Sheldon Souray

“We got into penalty trouble and their power play beat us tonight. We weren’t as disciplined as we have been. We talked about that and we just got a little bit away from that. We just let them get on the power play way too much tonight.”

Stars forward Jamie Benn

“It’s a tough game to lose. We definitely needed these two points. We had too many turnovers and too many costly penalties. We shot ourselves in the foot tonight.”

DALLAS -- With a big two points on the line Saturday afternoon goaltender Kari Lehtonen came up big for the Dallas Stars, leading the way in a 4-1 victory over the Calgary Flames at American Airlines Center.

“Tonight our start got us a 2-0 lead and our goalie did the rest,” Stars coach Glen Gulutzan said.

Jamie Benn and Michael Ryder scored goals in the first 7:17 and Lehtonen made sure the Flames could never catch up, stopping 35 of 36 shots.

“I can’t say much more (about Lehtonen). We keep talking about elite,” Gulutzan said.” Just hope it keeps going."

The win pushed the Stars into first place in the Pacific Division and third place in the Western Conference, but whether they’ll be there at the end of the night depends on the rest of Saturday’s games.

It was a huge loss for the 11th place Flames, who fell four points behind the Stars and saw their winless streak hit five games (0-2-3) despite outshooting Dallas, 36-20.

“Well, the first five minutes or so we were standing and watching. We weren’t moving our feet. Then we got going and we played a pretty darn good hockey game after that,” Flames coach Brent Sutter said. “We didn’t give them much, hardly any shots at all. Their goaltender definitely was first star tonight, no question about that.”

Lehtonen, who picked up an assist in the game as well, was particularly impressive in the second and third periods, stopping all 29 shots he faced as the Stars held onto a 2-1 lead until the final minutes when they were finally able to add a couple of goals.

“That was fun. I felt I haven’t been my best the last three games, so it was nice to be able to help out and get some good saves,” Lehtonen said. “It’s just great to get two points.”

Lehtonen got all the goal support he would need early in the game. Benn scored on a wrap-around 1:37 into the game to put the Stars up 1-0. Michael Ryder made it a 2-0, taking a pass from Mike Ribeiro and firing a shot from the right circle past Flames goalie Miikka Kiprusoff.

“[The strong start] was huge,” Benn said. “That’s something we want to do, we want to see if teams are ready. We learned our lesson against Chicago when they came out and gave it to us in the first couple minutes. That’s what we want to do to teams.”

The Flames’ Mike Cammalleri scored off a one-timer from the right circle at 12:27 of the first to make it a 2-1 game.

After that it was the Kari Lehtonen Show. At one point the shots over the final two periods were 26-9 in favor of Calgary, but the Flames couldn’t get another puck past Lehtonen.

“His level is rising in important games,” Gulutzan said of Lehtonen. “They threw a lot of bodies at him, but he’s a big guy and he fights through it.”

Benn sealed the win for the Stars, scoring his second of the night with 3:33 left in regulation. Steve Ott sent a cross-ice pass to Benn, who beat Kiprusoff with a blast from the right circle.

Stars captain Brenden Morrow round scored into an empty net with 1:28 remaining to make it a 4-1 final.

The two teams will meet again Monday night in Calgary.

Notes

*The Stars honored former defenseman Karlis Skrastins prior to Saturday’s game. Skrastins was killed when the plane carrying his KHL team crashed in Russia last September. A framed set that included an autographed Skrastins jersey, photo and puck raised $2,750 at silent auction held during the game.

*The Stars were 4-4 on the penalty kill in the game and are now 51-54 (94.4 percent) on the PK over their last 16 games.

*Stars goalie Kari Lehtonen has a two-game points streak, picking up assists in each of the last two games. The last Dallas goalie to pick up assists in consecutive games was Marty Turco in November 2007.

*Jake Dowell, Toby Petersen, Ryan Garbutt and Jordie Benn were healthy scratches for Dallas.

*Stars defenseman Mark Fistric missed his second straight game with an abdominal strain.

*Saturday’s attendance was 17,238.

Here are some postgame quotes following the Dallas Stars 4-1 victory over the Calgary Flames at American Airlines Center Saturday afternoon.

Stars coach Glen Gulutzan on the win

“Tonight our start got us a 2-0 lead and our goalie did the rest.”

Gulutzan on the play of goalie Kari Lehtonen

“I can’t say much more. We keep talking about elite. Just hope it keeps going. He just does the right things every day. He’s a great pro for us.”

Gulutzan on moving captain Brenden Morrow down the lineup

“Brenden has to do a lot to get game ready. The right thing to do is probably scale a couple of his minutes back just because of what he has to put himself through to be game ready. I talked to our captain a couple days ago about it, and he agreed. That’s why he’s our captain, what a professional guy he is.”

Stars goaltender Kari Lehtonen, who stopped 35 of 36 shots

“That was fun. I felt I haven’t been my best the last three games, so it was nice to be able to help out and get some good saves. It’s just great to get two points.”

Lehtonen on the emotions of the team following the pre-game tribute to Karlis Skrastins

“That was hard, but it was also very nice. It was nice to see his family and it was pretty emotional. It was tough to start playing right away, but guys came out flying and got two goals. That was real nice.”

Stars forward Jamie Benn on the team’s quick start

“That was huge. That’s something we want to do, we want to see if teams are ready. We learned our lesson against Chicago when they came out and gave it to us in the first couple minutes. That’s what we want to do to teams.”

Flames captain Jarome Iginla

“We’re getting one goal a game and we had great scoring chances to get a lot more than that. Lehtonen played very well but we had great chances and they just didn’t go in for us. Guys played hard. Guys were physical. They obviously came out and had a good start. I thought we were able to get back into it and I thought we were going to find that tie. Then you have to take a few more chances the last five minutes and they capitalize and get an empty netter. It definitely stings. It’s a tough loss. Guys are all committed. It’s just been a real tough stretch as far as producing goals in front of Kipper (Miikka Kiprusoff) lately.”

DALLAS -- The Dallas Stars started Thursday in third place in the Western Conference. They ended it in third place in the Pacific Division and barely in a playoff spot. It’s a sign of just how tight the playoff race in the West is.

The Stars, who have lost three of four games, are now in eighth place in the Western, just percentage points ahead of ninth place Colorado and one point ahead of tenth place San Jose.

“Maybe it is a good reality check of how delicate these next eight games are going to be,” said Stars coach Glen Gulutzan.

With the Stars and Canucks playing for the third time in less than a month, things weren't exactly delicate on the ice and a lot of it happened after the whistle, which didn’t play into the Stars’ hands.

“I didn’t think our focus was high. Our game plan at the start was to keep the pace high, stay whistle to whistle,” Gulutzan said. “We wanted to get things deep and go after them. In the first few minutes (Cory) Schneider stood the test and made some real good saves. Then we lost focus. We wanted to get involved in an extracurricular game, some of the exchanges, the penalties and the frustration level was way too high. ... You have to be methodical and focused this time of year. You can’t be up and down like a yo-yo with your emotions."

That extracurricular stuff might have played into the hands of the Canucks, who had played the night before in Chicago.

“It kind of ruins the flow of the game, especially against a team coming off a back-to-back,” said Stars defenseman Alex Goligoski. “Don’t’ want to slow that game down all night, so I think we fell into that a little bit.”

The Stars started strong, creating some early scoring chances but Schneider made strong saves on a Mike Ribeiro redirection and a hard shot by Loui Eriksson from the slot.

The Canucks took the lead at 4:46 of the mark when Henrik Sedin sent a pass from the right boards that was tipped by Don Hamhuis to a wide open Mason Raymond, who scored from close range to give the Canucks the early lead.

The Stars had a chance to tie in the second when Ribeiro was awarded a penalty shot, but Schneider turned away Ribeiro’s bid to keep the Canucks ahead.

“I wasn’t really sure what he was going to do with it. But got him pretty tight and don’t know if he was trying to go past my blocker or through my arm, but stayed with him and made the save,” Schneider said.

The Canucks were able to extend the lead to 2-0 early in the third period when Raymond set up Kevin Bieksa, who had his first shot stopped by Stars goalie Kari Lehtonen but then put his own rebound into the net.

The Stars scored with just over 12 minutes remaining when Schneider came out of the net to play the puck, but it bounced over his stick and Vernon Fiddler put it into the net to make it a 2-1 game.

But the Stars could never get the equalizer on Schneider, who stopped 25 shots to improve to 17-7-1 on the season.

“Gave us a chance to win, played well, moved the puck well, everything you could ask from a goalie,” said Bieksa.

Notes

*The Stars were 0-3 on the power play in the game and had no shots on their chances with the man-advantage.

*Stars defenseman Mark Fistric missed Thursday’s game with an abdominal strain. He is expected to miss at least one week.

*Toby Petersen, Ryan Garbutt, Tomas Vincour and Jordie Benn were healthy scratches for Dallas.

*Canucks forward Daniel Sedin missed Thursday’s game with a head injury suffered Wednesday when he was elbowed by Chicago defenseman Duncan Keith.

*Thursday’s attendance was 16,618.

Here are some postgame quotes after the Dallas Stars lost 2-1 to the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday night.

Stars coach Glen Gulutzan

“I didn’t think our focus was high. Our game plan at the start was to keep the pace high, stay whistle to whistle. It was on the board, we wanted to play whistle to whistle with these guys tonight. They came off an emotional game last night. We wanted to get things deep and go after them. In the first few minutes (Cory) Schneider stood the test and made some real good saves. Then we lost focus. We wanted to get involved in an extracurricular game, some of the exchanges, the penalties and the frustration level was way too high.”

Stars forward Eric Nystrom

“We’d like to go undefeated obviously, but there’s going to be games that you’re going to come out on the wrong end of, but there can’t be too many of those down the stretch. We know we’re a great team in here and we’ve got to move forward and learn from our mistakes and know we’ve got to shoot the puck a little more and go to that net and get some ugly ones and we’ll be fine.”

Stars defenseman Alex Goligoski on the shoving after the whistle

“That kind of stuff we don’t’ want to get into. We want to play whistle to whistle. It kind of ruins the flow of the game, especially against a team coming off a back-to-back. Don’t’ want to slow that game down all night, so I think we fell into that a little bit. The games are picking up physicality wise and that’s the way it goes.”

Canucks coach Alain Vigneault

“It was a real solid team effort I thought from start to finish, two teams that battled real hard. There was a lot of stuff going on the ice from whistle to whistle and a lot of stuff going on after the whistle. But we were able to get couple of goals. Unfortunately there Schneids lost his shutout on that play there but really liked our overall game.”

Canucks goalie Cory Schneider on stopping Mike Ribeiro’s penalty shot attempt

“Seeing him coming in the back end like that and I wasn’t really sure what he was going to do with it. But got him pretty tight and don’t know if he was trying to go past my blocker or through my arm, but stayed with him and made the save.”