Ed Belfour made 24 saves to lead Dallas to a 3-1 victory over the Detroit Red Wings on Friday night, the Stars’ third straight victory this season over the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions.
Pat Verbeek, Jere Lehtinen and Brett Hull had the other goals for the Stars, who began a four-game road trip by extending their unbeaten streak to six (4-0-2).
Dallas took its second straight victory in Detroit after winning just once in its previous 20 visits, including playoffs.
The Stars, who have one game remaining against the Red Wings, clinched a season series over Detroit for just the second time in seven seasons. They’ve outscored Detroit 11-4 in their three meetings thus far.
The Red Wings, who beat the Stars in six games to take last season’s Western Conference finals, had won six straight home games since a 5-1 loss to Dallas on Nov. 13. But they just managed to avoid their second shutout loss in three games when Vyacheslav Kozlov scored with 2 minutes 8 seconds remaining.
That ruined Belfour’s bid for his 43rd career shutout. He didn’t have that many tough saves because the Stars continually bottled up the Red Wings’ attack.
Detroit goalie Chris Osgood made 23 saves.
Sabres 4, Canadiens 2: Curtis Brown scored the game-winner almost 5 minutes into the third period for host Buffalo.
Dixon Ward added a short-handed goal with 4 minutes to play as the Sabres came from behind to beat slumping Montreal for the fourth time in the last five games between the teams.
Brian Holzinger and Vaclav Varada also scored for the Sabres, who took over first place in the Northeast Division by a point over idle Toronto with a 16-5-5 record. Igor Ulanov and Benoit Brunet scored for Montreal.
Flames 5, Devils 2: Cory Stillman scored twice and Theo Fleury had a goal and two assists as visiting Calgary stopped New Jersey’s eight-game unbeaten streak.
The loss was the first for the Devils following a 6-0-2 streak. The Flames completed a 3-1-1 road trip with the victory.
Stillman scored the first and last goals for Calgary, giving him 12 for the season.
Senators 5, Hurricanes 1: Alexei Yashin had two goals and three assists for host Ottawa, setting a club record for points in a period with a goal and three assists in the second.
It was the first time an Ottawa player has scored five points on home ice for the modern-era Senators and was the third five-point night of Yashin’s six-year career.
Shawn McEachern contributed a goal and two assists for the Senators, who ended a three-game losing streak.
Oilers 4, Lightning 1: Bill Guerin and Todd Marchant each had a goal and an assist as visiting Edmonton snapped a seven-game winless streak.
The victory lifted the Oilers into sole possession of first place in the Northwest Division with a two-point advantage over idle Colorado.
Islanders 2, Mighty Ducks 2: Mariusz Czerkawski scored to draw visiting New York even with 9:38 remaining in regulation and the Islanders skated to their first tie of the season.
The Islanders were the only NHL team that had not tied a game this season.
