 pulled away from second-place St. Louis (101). The Stars have four games remaining, and the Blues have five. The loss eliminated the Coyotes from playoff contention. Arizona's Martin Hanzal scored the game's first goal 17:07 into the first period, but Dallas tied it less than a minute later on Patrick Eaves' 10th goal. The Stars' Radek Faksa scored 11 seconds into the second period. Benn's goal came 10 minutes later, and Patrick Sharp added a power-play goal into an empty net with 1:11 to play. Benn is the Stars' first 40-goal scorer since Mike Modano in 1993-94, the team's first season in Dallas. Only Washington's Alex Ovechkin has more goals this season (44) than the 2014-15 Art Ross Trophy winner. Niemi's 16 career wins vs. Arizona are his most against any team. Mike Smith had 29 saves for the Coyotes. Dallas' Ales Hemsky extended his point streak to six games with assists on the two second-period goals. John Klingberg also had two assists, and Benn added an assist on Sharp's goal. Hanzal, who scored a goal in each of the three games between the teams this season, left after the first period because of an upper-body injury. The Coyotes also played without their leading scorer, defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson, because of illness. The Stars got big hits early by Stephen Johns on Max Domi 45 seconds into the game and Benn against Zbynek Michalek at 6:11. Benn's hit sent him to the penalty box for boarding, along with the Coyotes' Antoine Vermette for roughing Benn. Hanzal's goal came on a snap shot from the slot after passes by Anthony Duclair from the right and Domi from the left pulled Niemi out of position. Eaves scored with a wrist shot from the right faceoff circle. Faksa scored off the second-period faceoff. Hemsky passed from behind the net to Faksa in front for his third goal in five games. NOTES: Hanzal had three of his 13 goals and two assists in the Coyotes' three games against Dallas. ... Arizona LW Eric Selleck made his NHL debut, and D Alex Grant played in his third game and first with the Coyotes. Each received a fighting major, Grant for a bout with Dallas' Colton Sceviour in the second period and Selleck against Jordie Benn in the third. ... Stars D Kris Russell (lower body) missed his fifth game. C Tyler Seguin (Achilles tendon) remained out but could resume skating next week. ... Arizona won the season series 2-1. ... Hemsky has seven points (two goals, five assists) during his streak and has 13 points (four goals, nine assists) in his last 12 games. ... The Stars have 12 players with 10 or more goals, one away from the franchise record of 13 last achieved in 1993-94. Valeri Nichushkin has scored nine.
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Time: 08:30 P.M. EST Venue: American Airlines Center
With a demanding trip to face two of the Western Conference's top teams looming, Dallas knows how vital two points are in its last game against a non-playoff contender. Arizona just hasn't played like a postseason afterthought against the Stars. Dallas continues its pursuit of the West's top seed Thursday night, but it's the visiting Coyotes seeking a sweep in the season series after beating the conference front-runners last week. The Stars (46-22-9) are tied on 101 points atop both the Central Division and the West with St. Louis, and after Tuesday's 5-2 win over Nashville, they have a three-game advantage in the first tiebreaker of regulation and overtime wins. Both teams have five games remaining, but Dallas follows this contest with visits to Los Angeles and Anaheim before facing Colorado and the Predators at home." I think we're doing a lot of good things, and we're getting good results because of it," Jason Spezza told the team's official website. "We're trending in the right direction. The games are only going to get tougher and tougher here as we get going." Spezza scored his 30th goal to give the franchise its first set of three 30-goal scorers along with Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin since Russ Courtnall, Ulf Dahlen, Mike Modano and Dave Gagner each hit the mark for the Minnesota North Stars in 1992-93. Benn has three in his last two games to put him one away from his first 40-goal season. No Stars player has reached that mark since Modano's 50-goal campaign in '93-94 - the franchise's first season in Dallas. He's already tied with Brett Hull in 2000-01 for the top mark since the turn of the millennium. Team-wise, it's Dallas' first 100-point season since 2006-07. That one ended at 107, but it was only good enough for third in the old Pacific Division and fifth in the West." It's a good accomplishment, not a lot of teams hit that," Alex Goligoski said. "We should feel good about that. The team has worked hard all year. We still have some time to add more points." After a 3-1 home win over the Stars last Thursday, Arizona (34-35-7) has won the first two meetings by a 9-4 total after Dallas swept three last season by a 13-4 score. The games this season have both come in the desert, but the Stars have won the last six in Dallas while limiting the Coyotes to a total of two goals over the previous three. Last week's victory was part of a three-game winning streak that ended with Monday's 5-2 home loss to Calgary. Anthony Duclair had both goals and is one away from becoming the second player since the franchise moved to Arizona to hit the 20-goal mark after Peter Mueller scored 22 in 2007-08. Teemu Selanne's '92-93 franchise record of 76 is probably out of reach. Both of Duclair's goals came on the power play, and the Coyotes are 3 for 7 in the last two games." We made some good plays on the power play. You want to capitalize every time we're not ahead," Duclair said. "That's what we did, but at the same time the game is played 5-on-5 and they did a better job." A loss of any kind or Minnesota earning a point against Ottawa will formally eliminate Arizona from playoff contention in a season that started with promise. The Coyotes were second in the Pacific in mid-January but have gone 12-19-2 since with 2.30 goals per game. That's put more pressure on their goaltenders, and Mike Smith figures to face Dallas. He's been a new man since returning from a 40-game injury absence, going 4-1-0 with a 1.20 goals-against average and .965 save percentage, though he's lost his last four against Dallas. Kari Lehtonen has had the majority of the starts for the Stars lately, posting a 1.77 GAA and .941 save percentage over a 3-1-0 span. He's notched 1.51 and .950 marks over a 5-1-0 run against the Coyotes.
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