DALLAS _ The hockey gods have been pretty tough on the Stars this year.
Well, to be fair to the hockey gods, the Stars have also been pretty tough on the Stars this year.
Dallas' injury issues continued to pile up Friday, as Martin Hanzal was shut down for the season because of a need for spinal fusion surgery, and Mattias Janmark (illness) and Marc Methot (lower body) were late scratches.
But Dallas found a way to take a 2-1 win over Anaheim with two third-period power-play goals. That win pushed the Stars to 38-24-6 (82 points) and put them four points safe in a battle for a playoff spot.
Things looked bad before the comeback, as Dallas was prepared to lose to a team that played Thursday in Nashville. Entering the game, the Stars were 2-5-1 against teams that had played the night before. They also were struggling against backup goalies, and Ryan Miller was looking to pitch his second consecutive shutout against the Stars.
But it all changed on the power play.
That's a bit surprising, seeing how the Stars were 3 for 27 with the man advantage in the nine games preceding. And, even Friday, it looked like the power play was struggling.
But coach Ken Hitchcock left his first unit on the ice for the entire two minutes of the first power play, and the Stars struck with two seconds left. Tyler Seguin threaded a pass into the slot, and Devin Shore redirected the puck in for his ninth goal of the season.
That tied the score and ended more than five periods of shutout hockey for the Stars offense.
Then, minutes later, Antoine Roussel drew a hook and Dallas converted 35 seconds later. This time, John Klingberg made a nice fake and then feathered a shot through a crowd. Jamie Benn tipped the puck in for the game-winner at 14:23 of the third period.
It was a big moment for Benn, who had scored just once in his previous 14 games. With Hanzal out for the season and several Stars players battling illness or injury, Hitchcock said in the morning he was moving Benn onto a line with Radek Faksa and Tyler Pitlick _ not because he wanted Benn to bring electricity, but because he wanted the others to help Benn.
"This isn't the time of season for reputation, this is the time of season for who's being productive and who's not, and then you've got to adjust accordingly," Hitchcock said.
"And look, Faksa and Pitlick have been very productive players in both ends of the rink, so we're hoping that they help Jamie be productive also, so that we've got a second line that can really impact the game in a positive way."
Hitchcock had to shuffle even more when Janmark and Methot were late scratches, and by the end of the game he had Benn playing with Seguin and Alexander Radulov. That trio helped drive a win this team badly needed.
The Stars are about to embark on the longest road trip of the season, with stops in Pittsburgh, Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa, Winnipeg and Washington, and were struggling to score and struggling to win.
So doing both can mean that maybe they can change the minds of the hockey gods about a few things.
"The special teams have to be a lot better and more consistent," Klingberg said. "We need to play good 5 on 5, too. I feel like we're throwing the puck away. We're not playing with possession enough. We need to create more speed and keep more puck possession."
For at least one period, they showed they can accomplish that task.
