DALLAS _ Sometimes, the scoreboard can lie. It can tell the story of fortunate bounces or a glut of time short-handed. Sometimes, the scoreboard doesn't care about your line combinations or your faceoff plays or your forecheck.
During the Stars' now extinct four-game losing streak that ended with Tuesday night's 2-0 win over Calgary, sometimes the scoreboard lied. It hid a pretty evenly played game in San Jose in which Dallas exited pointless. It couldn't disguise the inconsistency of a horrid first period followed by two strong ones in Colorado.
The refrain from the Stars players and coaching staff was simple: "If we play the way we did the last few games, we deserve better results," Tyler Seguin said following the loss to Colorado.
In a return to Dallas and the friendly confines of American Airlines Center, the Stars played that way again.
They dominated the Flames in the first and second periods, receiving goals from Jamie Benn and Radek Faksa and outshooting Calgary 26-12 after two periods. The Flames pushed in the third period down two goals, but never seriously threatened the Stars' lead.
The Stars are now 11-3-1 and have won their last five games on home ice. They are 6-11-2 and have lost their last four on the road.
Ben Bishop survived a second-period hit behind his own net to earn the victory and hand the red-hot Flames just their third regulation loss in the last 15 games. Dallas also beat the Flames in overtime about three weeks ago.
On Tuesday night, the Stars (17-14-3) owned the net-front, setting up both Benn and Faksa's goals.
Seguin fed Benn in the first period on the doorstep, and the puck clanked off Benn's skate past Flames goaltender David Rittich. It was Benn's 14th goal of the season, and moved him into fifth place in franchise history with 268 career goals, passing Bill Goldsworthy.
Faksa corralled a loose puck in front of the net after Martin Hanzal's shot was deflected. Faksa deftly moved to his backhand and slid the puck past Rittich.
A strong penalty kill went 4-for-4 against Calgary and the Stars posted their third shutout of the season. The scoreboard did not lie on Tuesday.
The Stars also showed some feistiness on a pair of occasions with Flames fourth-liner Garnet Hathaway. Hathaway was the one who clipped Bishop behind the net, knocking him to the ice, and temporarily out of the game. Bishop missed the final 6:23 of the second period but returned for the third period.
After the play, Benn grabbed Hathaway by the collar and shook him. Hathaway did not engage.
Toward the end of the second period, Hathaway was a target again when he blindsided Seguin away from the puck, a play that should have resulted in an interference penalty but instead went uncalled.
Roman Polak approached Hathaway and dropped his gloves, but Hathaway again did not engage. Polak was given a two-minute minor for roughing, while the Flames went on the power play.
